Reflecting His Light

 

The winners in Olympic competition are excited and have shining faces. Happy children also shine as do the bride and groom at most weddings. A friend told us that before she became a Christian, she always recognized those who followed Christ — because they had shining faces. This SHINE is associated with joy, openness and a relaxed attitude. In the OT, it is a figure of speech for those who show favor; they shine in appearance with a bright face toward others. This is seen in verses like these:

Numbers 6:24–26. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Psalm 31:16. “Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!”

Psalm 67:1–2. “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”

Psalm 80:3. “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (Repeated two more times in this psalm.)

Psalm 118:27. “The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us . . . .”

Psalm 119:135. “Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.”

The psalm writers were not the only ones who used the idea of God’s shining face as His blessing on them. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Having a rich understanding of God’s glory and favor makes faces shine. This was what Daniel wanted when he prayed, “Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.”

When Jesus came, He brought the knowledge of who God is and the favor of God on those who believed. He knew that light would make them shine also. In Matthew 5:16 He said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

In other words, let all that God reveals to me show up in the way that I talk and act, and do it in such a way that those who see it will glorify God.

This light is a God-thing. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says it like this: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That darkness is a life of sin, of doing things my way instead of God’s way, and living in my own wisdom and strength instead of relying totally on Him. He tells me to stop all that:

Ephesians 5:11–14. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

To keep my face and my life shining, two common sins must be avoided: complaining and arguing. He tells me how to do that in Philippians 2:14–16.

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The above verse says to hang on tight to what God says because His Word makes plain that I have every reason to be thankful and be without a feisty attitude. I know that complaining and arguing always take the shine off my face and move me toward darkness.

One day, this light from the glory of God will be all the light needed as I will be living with Him in His eternal city. Revelation 21:22–27 describes it — a place of light:

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Amen!