Light and Truth

"Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God." Psalm 43:3-4

I love these two verses. Jesus is your light and your truth. Jesus teaching in the temple said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) And then He told Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

In today's world, at least in my corner of America, people are so engrossed in themselves. It doesn't matter whether they are rich, or poor; the only concern is themselves. Their thoughts and their motives is what they could gain not in what they can give. All of this is due to an "in-look" and not an "up-look."
The Psalmist, in Psalm 43, gives us a clear picture that our world is bent on evil. Because of the Fall, mankind lives in darkness. Everything we do and see makes us gravitate toward godlessness. Yet, if we are to overcome the darkness, we have to seek what is truth and what is light.

Jesus is the only way we can come to the Father God. We should constantly pray for that light and truth in our life. We should be on our knees asking God to lead us by His light and His truth, which is Jesus Christ.
If we are in a darkened room, what do we search for in order to see? A light switch. I am a hunter, and one of the worst things that has happened to me is that I left my flashlight at home. Can you imagine trouncing around the woods trying to find a deer stand without a flashlight? Needless to say, I had to wait for daylight to see where I needed to go.

Scripture tells us that this world is ruled by darkness. (John 3:19, Romans 1:21, Ephesians 4:18, 5:8, 2 Corinthians 6:14, Jude 6...just to name a few passages). Those who don't have Christ in their lives are wandering around in this world without a "flashlight." They live their lives with respect to lies told to them by the world, Satan and their own fleshly desires. What is unfortunate is that a lot of people think they are OK because they go to church or had some kind of religious experience. They don't realize they are in darkness because they are "feeling" their way through life instead of being guided by Christ.

God is light, in Him their is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). If Jesus is truly Lord and Savior of our life then His light leads us to God. We seek Him. We love Him. We desire to be in His presence, at His altar; and joy and praise overflows from within and goes outward. It is ONLY because of Christ that we can praise God.
Through Christ we turn from the darkness of our sin, the darkness of the world and we run to God. Our lives are changed and we live in such a way that we are different from everyone else. Unfortunately, many people who call themselves Christians do not live like this. They say that they believe, they say they know Christ; but their lives are still worldly dark lives. Their thinking goes like this, "I want all I can get, live in sin...and oh Christ you can come along, too."

I want to encourage you not to be one of these pseudo-Christians. Heed the Psalmist's direction. Live a life worthy of the One who has saved you. Don't be a person who lives for the world and then just tacks on Christ to make yourself feel better. And always keep looking up!