Revelation 22:5
Never again will night appear, and
no one who lives there will ever need a lamp or the sun. The Lord God
will be their light, and they will rule forever. Jesus answered, “God
wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Our
little ones have a hard time going to sleep at night when they visit
us. They want the light left on – or some form of illumination nearby -
and I get that. When I was a little girl, my siblings and I would go to
stay with our paternal grandparents at their farm “in the country.”
Their house sat on a dirt road, surrounded by thick forests…and the
darkness at night was beyond what I can describe. There were no street
lights. No digital clock on the night stand delivered the time in LED.
There was no blinking smoke alarm in the ceiling - or glow from so much
as the power light on a television set!
And the quiet was
amazing! The only noise was the steady tick-tock of my grandparents’
mantel clock as it counted down the minutes and chimed on the hour and
half-hour. So I lay there many nights, trying to “see” in the darkness -
and listening to that clock…totally unable to relax and fall asleep!
This
might have something to do with why I keep so many lights on in our
house today. We have twinkling lights that are plugged in each morning –
lamps on timers that go on and off different hours of the day and
night. And I leave a light on in our bathroom each night, so that we
are not stumbling around in the darkness. I am not afraid of the
dark…but I have to say that I prefer the light…and I am more than a
little glad to hear that there will be no darkness in heaven!
I
am also grateful that Jesus (and His Holy Spirit) illuminates my heart…
and for the most part, there is no room for the devil and his darkness.
I marvel sometimes at how sources of light have crept into our
contemporary lives…how we are never in a room that some gadget doesn’t
have a light source, like the LED display on digital clocks and the
alarms in our walls/ceilings. And we think nothing of it.
By contrast, I’m afraid that many of us have grown complacent and accepting of the intrusions of darkness
in our hearts - and the devil’s attempt to pepper the light with areas
of sin and iniquity. If we are not careful and diligent, we will allow
him to sneak in little areas of darkness that can grow over time – and
we’ll never even see it coming.
When I think of Jesus…and
Heaven…I think of bright light that never fades. I picture a light so
bright and pure that we shouldn’t be able to even handle it without
protective eyewear – and yet we bask in its brilliance with eagerness
and boundless joy. I want all of this Light that I can get – even now!
I have faith that Jesus is ALL that I need…and I trust Him to care for
me completely. So I am doubling down on my efforts to stay close to
Him…to listen for His voice and “keep the lights on” as much as
possible. What about you?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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