Becoming Holy - Part 4

Focus Scripture

Matthew 6 : 22-23 (NRSV)

'The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Daily Byte

Light is a common metaphor for holiness. Light makes things visible, able to be seen and understood. Light guides us and ensures that we do not get lost or hurt by stumbling over hidden objects. Light offers protection and comfort. God’s holiness is like a light that leads us into safe and welcoming paths. And as our lives are flooded with God’s light, we become light to those around us, pointing to the wholeness and hospitality that God offers. That’s why we need eyes that are filled with God’s light - that see things through the lens of God’s wholeness and compassion.

What does light mean for you? List all of the ways you depend on light for your well-being, and give thanks for the gift of light. What does it mean for your eyes to be filled with light? In what ways do you think your eyes may still be filled with darkness? How can your worship help you dispel this darkness in your life, and invite God’s light in still more? Will you commit to one light-bringing act today?

Pray As You Go

How we long to understand, O God,
the simple logic of light;

The power of a single glow to dispel darkness;
the capacity of a single spark to create warmth;
the immense energy in a single drop of sunlight.

It’s a simple logic, this message that you speak;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot overcome it;

We praise you for the light,
and for it’s simple resistance to darkness;
We praise you for the radiance
that never ceases to stream into us and our world.

And we praise you for the tinder that you have placed within us that waits patiently and quietly
for us to allow a single ember into our hearts
so that we might be set ablaze with You.

Amen.

Today’s devotion is taken from Rev John van de Laar’s outstanding book ‘The Hour That Changes Everything: How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be.’ Used with permission.

To order copies of this book and for other superb worship resources visit http://www.sacredise.com