Ephesians 5:8-14 (NRSV)
Read Ephesians 5:8-14 on biblegateway.com
Verse 8For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light- Verse 9for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Verse 10Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Verse 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Verse 12For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; Verse 13but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, Verse 14for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Devotion
Yesterday, guided by Psalm 23, I wrote of how even when we are lost in the darkest of valleys, God is with us. Today I'm drawn to speak of light—because God not only remains with us in darkness, but also brings us into light. Indeed, we are light and so we are called to live as such for the sake of others.
We know the reality of darkness, and the despair and destruction it inflicts. But in the Lord we also know the power of light, and the hope and healing it offers. So we are called not to live in fear, nor in the safety of comfort zones, nor in a state of false peace. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." Therefore, we work for God's justice—that which is good and right and true—by daring to wade into those dark places in the world and reflect God's light.
Prayer
Lord of light, in a world full of darkness grant us courage to live as children of light so that we pursue your justice and share your peace with all. Amen.