Written by Bruce Springsteen and made famous by Manfred Mann, the song BLINDED BY THE LIGHT is loaded with imaginative lyrics over a catchy beat. But the title itself has punched an indelible imprint on my faith walk. WHY? Because it raises two important questions every Christian should consider: 1) Does God’s bright light BLIND or BLESS you? 2) Does it cause you to LOVE?
Christians who LOVE God’s light are living out their new birth and security in heaven for eternity. Believers who HATE are doomed to languish in darkness.
“If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour. If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else to sin. But if we hate others, we are in the darkness; we walk in it and do not know where we are going, because the darkness has made us blind.” 1 John 2:9-11
Believers either LOVE or HATE. There is no middle ground. People who claim to live in God’s LIGHT but hate their brother are bathing in the DARK.
Believers living in the LIGHT have accepted their sinful depravity. And they have forcefully embraced God’s LOVE.
“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5
If a believer has truly been regenerated and transformed, they will cling to God’s light, obey him in all things, and LOVE OTHERS.
God is not a light. He IS light. If a believer’s faith walk lacks light, they do not know God.
On the coin’s flipside, Christians who truly know God walk in his light. They understand his truths. And they bask in his righteousness.
That makes them partakers of God’s divine nature and allows them to “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4).
Jesus described his disciples as “bearers of light” (Matthew 5:14–16). That blessing brought with it responsibility to let God’s light shine in the world so people could see Christ in them and give him the glory.
I ask God to help me be continually regenerated and transformed by his love and light so I can obey him in all things and love others.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Are you blinded or blessed by GOD’S LIGHT?
“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
