The Ineffable Lightness of Being

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

-Colossians 1:12-13

Your portion as a Christian is “in the light.”

Gothic architecture may have been founded on similar theological notions, but the religious, creative mind of the day, in its attempt to materialize this truth in concrete terms, stripped it of its full import. Beautiful stained glass windows diffracted light into a kaleidoscopic metaphor of God and a whole new genre of religious art flourished. Medieval man’s experience of this ‘lux nova’ was confined to basking in the colorful glow of physical light. The resultant concept was that man could rise to the contemplation of the divine only through the senses- a physical experience of an immaterial abstraction.

The far reaching ripples of this objective or physical experience of God lap upon the shores of modern Christianity.

Light is an elusive thing to pin down.

Both conceptually and physically, light is mysterious. Is it a wave? Is it a particle? It seems unsubstantial but if exposed to it long enough the effects are tangible and often painful. The phrase “the speed of light” carries both pop-culture clout and serious fundamental-properties-of-nature status. Light plays a powerful role in our existence and survival.

But your experience of light is more than outward and objective. And here is where the religious concepts can falter.

As you are under the shining of light, something inward is happening. Think about a sunburn. That is a subjective experience of light. The photon actually penetrates your skin and dislodges your skin pigmentation. The effect of the energy of this invisible particle is astounding. Your body then reacts and produces a tan as a defense mechanism. Something as far away, great, and unapproachable as the Sun can reach you, penetrate you, and change your appearance. This approaches more closely the Biblical significance of God being light.

For your portion to be in the light, means that you are to enjoy Christ in God. God who dwelt in unapproachable light, desires to become your portion. Although this is commenced with being delivered by God from darkness and being transferred into His kingdom, it doesn’t stop there. Once you believe into the light and position yourself under its shining, it has a profound, organic effect on your being. You actually become light! This is to become the same as God in His nature for His expression and to shine Him out for others’ salvation.

From God to us

In the verses below, there is a pretty obvious progression of our experience of light. They progress from God being light to us becoming light. Enjoy!

1 John 1:5 …God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

John 12:46 I have come as a light into the world, that everyone who believes into Me would not remain in darkness.

Psalm 119:130 The opening of Your words gives light…

Psalm 36:9 …In Your light we see light.

John 12:36 While you have the light, believe into the light, so that you may become sons of light.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness but are now light in the Lord; walk as children of light.

Philippians 2:15 That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world.

Acts 13:47 For so the Lord has commanded us, “I have set you as a light of the Gentiles, that you would be for salvation unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Related articles

• Light Versus Darkness in the New Testament (holdingtotruth.com)