TURN UP THE LIGHT by Kim Wright

My husband and I have an ongoing feud. 

The thing that we cannot see eye to eye on 

after almost 25 years of marriage 

and 10 kids together?

 Light bulbs!

When my husband buys light bulbs for our home, 

he always gravitates toward high wattage bulbs. 

He likes things BRIGHT!

  

I, on the other hand, prefer low light. 

A dimly lit room connotes warmth and coziness to me 

(…at least that has always been my argument!)  

However, just recently, I realized a dirty little secret about myself.  The real reason I don’t like an abundance of light 

is that it exposes things 

that I would prefer to stay hidden! 

This came clearly into focus one night 

when we were preparing for a gathering at my house.  

I had spent all weekend cleaning, 

and was quite pleased with the results.  

The house smelled and looked great.  

We were ready! I left the room to freshen up.  

The guests were due to arrive any minute.  

When I returned to the kitchen, I was horrified!  

What in the world had happened to my clean floor?  

I had just swept and mopped it!  

How could I have missed so much?  

Just as I was beginning to think I was going crazy, 

it dawned on me what must have happened in my absence. 

My husband had replaced several burned out bulbs 

with new, brighter ones. 

(Thanks a lot, Honey!)

It wasn’t that the dirt hadn’t been there earlier…

it was simply that I couldn’t see the extent of the mess.  

I had done a little work of cleaning up, 

but it wasn’t nearly enough.  

The greater amount of light exposed the truth.

What a sobering moment 

to realize that the same thing happens often 

in my spiritual life. 

When I allow only small amounts 

of the light of God’s Word to penetrate my heart and mind…

I can convince myself that I look pretty good. 

So I ask you to consider:  

How clean are you…really?  

What’s lurking beneath your freshly polished facade? 

Has worry seeped into the cracks?  

Has bitterness left an ugly stain?  

Is there a bad habit that you’ve mopped up several times…

but it never really seems to disappear?

  

Perhaps it’s time to turn up the Light!

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”  John 3:19-21

“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  I John 1:6-8