The Light Christ Gives

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Ephesians 5:14

Christ gives light because He is Light.  The light He gives is the truth dawning upon the soul of everyone to whom He imparts it.  We see two injunctions in our text for today, ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead.’  Paul quotes Christ as following those two injunctions with the promise, ‘And Christ will give you light.’  This brings to mind a remark which Augustine made in his work, The Confessions, when he said, ‘Give what you command, command what you will.’  From Chapter 4 through Chapter 5 of Ephesians, Paul has much to say about behavior; both what to do and what to refrain from doing.  If we remove the Person of Christ and His Spirit from the discussion, we land in a place in our thinking and belief which makes holy living entirely a matter of our own ability to ‘think right, speak right, and do right.’  The result of that is a host of very frustrated people who, instead of hearing that they must look to Christ, hear only that they must be more self-disciplined, and better regimented.  The truth is, Christ is the answer in sanctification, just as he is in salvation.  He is able to command what He wills because He will give what He commands.  This means that He will give light just as He has awakened us from sleep and raised us from the dead.  All our inclinations to holiness are the direct result of the work of Christ in us to give us light.

Our Good and Wise God,
we rejoice that Christ is the Light.
We praise You that He gives His Light unto us,
by His Spirit, that we may
grow to be like Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning