For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,

    rise from the dead,

    and Christ will shine on you.” (NIV)

Have you ever been in a situation where it was so dark you couldn’t see the hand in front of you? When our family moved from the Lower 48 to Alaska, we spent the 8-week journey living in our camper. At one place we stayed, the campsite had zero lights; only I didn’t realize this until I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic. I couldn’t see any tiny lights from anywhere within our camper, and no shadows illuminated the sliding door to the bathroom. I sat up in bed thinking I had gone blind. Shaking my husband awake, he was able to calm me down by turning on his phone, giving light. There was nothing wrong! I needed a light source to illuminate my surroundings and secure my bearings.  

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In the very beginning of the Bible, God says, “Let there be light. He saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness” (v. 3). Light and dark cannot coexist together, and Paul is reminding the church in Ephesus that, as believers of Jesus Christ, they are to live in God’s light. They cannot live in darkness anymore because they now have their true source of light: Jesus Christ. As darkness is the absence of light, without Christ in our lives, we are left spiritually “blind” and without direction.  

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So how do we live as “children of light”?

The Bible not only uses light throughout Scripture to describe God, but also how light illuminates the mind and soul to draw us to “see” God. It also uses light and dark to describe and depict spiritual understanding. Psalm 36:9 says, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” This verse makes me think of Jesus himself who declares, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

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Living in Alaska, we have a lot of light (summer) and very little light (winter). We know what it’s like to live in light and how it feels without it. The abundance of light in the summer is what makes living in the darkness of winter worth it. We feel the energy and joy of the summertime sunshine as we lay outside and enjoy God’s creation. And when January rolls around, we feel the hibernation blues hitting us each morning. Just as light is important for our physical bodies, we also need the light of Jesus to sustain our spiritual bodies.  

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What in your life keeps you truly walking in the light of Christ? To walk you have to be able to move, to move you have to be awake, and to be awake you can’t be sleeping. What state would you describe yourself being in today? Walking but not truly illuminating? Awake but not moving? Or are you so dead asleep you don’t even know it?  

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Are you walking but not sure where you are going? Read Psalm 119:105 and ask the Lord to allow his Word to illuminate the path for your feet. Are you not even walking? Dig into 1 John 1:7 and ask the Lord to draw you into his light. Maybe it’s the simple request for the Lord to shine his face on you and wake you up. May your prayer be found in Numbers 6:25. Whatever state you find yourself today, God’s light is able to transform.

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Like my husband’s phone that shone bright in the darkness, we need Jesus to illuminate our sin, shine where we need to walk, and wake us up. Then, we will find ourselves walking as “children of light.”

Heavenly Father, Lord of Light, I praise you that you illuminate our darkness. I praise you that you sent your Son, the Light of the World, to come, so that we don’t have to stumble and live in the darkness anymore. I thank you for the Holy Spirit, that illuminates more of who you are. Shine your light in my heart so that I can see and confess the places where I am not living in your light. Forgive me and lead me in your way everlasting, so that I can be a child of your light. Amen.