His Light Shines in our Hearts

Last weekend the remake of the movie Friday the 13th made over $40,000,000. It was the most popular movie of the weekend, earning more than double the highly anticipated Confessions of a Shopaholic, which came in fourth. The universally panned slasher movie also did far better than any of the movies nominated for Oscars. I guess people today are more interested in a new old scary movie than that are in Frost/Nixon.

People like to be scared.... or at least scared in an environment where they have some semblance of control. In Friday the 13th its the beautiful young people in the movie getting all cut up, not the audience. The theater may be dark, but the audience can hold the hands of their dates, or just get up and walk out. They have control.

The things we have no control over are far more terrifying than a horror flick. The current economic situation is what frightens many people today. It has surprised us. Looking at our economy we have discovered how so much of what we believed in was a lie.

And what were those lies?
- You can't loose money if you invest in a home: lie.
- Put your retirement in the stock market, in the long run it always goes up: lie.
- If you have enough stuff you will be happy: lie.

There's a verse in 2 Corinthians that speaks to this: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4)." Notice the first word "god" is with a small "g." What is the god, or the gods, of this age? It's all those things that would have us turn away from God and seek only personal gain and safety. The god of this world makes us believe that security is found in money and meaning comes from stuff. The past few years has exposed this wickedness as a lie... and people are terrified. Unfortunately, you can't just walk out of this theater. You can't just take delight in fact it's only the actors who get burned. You know you've been burned yourself. We all have been blinded by this darkness.

Someone turn on the lights! Someone let us see again!

"Click."

"And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white... [Peter, James and John] were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him (Mark 2a, 3, 6a-7)!'"

God has turned on the light. God has given us the Light of the World. All along we have been listening to the god of this age... the god of this world... and all his lies and darkness. Now that we know the truth we are scared to the depth of our souls. I think the reason Peter, James and John are so terrified up on that mountain of the Transfiguration is because the lies of this world have been exposed to them as well. When God turns on the light, it becomes crystal clear that everything else that they, and we believe in is simply darkness. Once see that the message of Jesus shines like the sun we know in our hearts that he must be the focus of our existence and the source of all meaning.

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6)." We don't need to act like unbelievers any longer. We don't need to live in fear. We will not be controlled by money, or by our desire for money. We will not seek comfort from stuff or need to confess our "shopaholism." We will not pretend we are forsaken when we know for a fact that millions of children live in the slums of Mumbai in India and that millions of people right now face a future of only injustice and abuse.

Oh no... we will not dwell in this darkness any more. God has turned on the light. We have heard his gospel and feel his light shining in our hearts. We have knowledge of God's glory. We have seen the face of Christ and it is bright and it is beautiful and it deserves our worship and praise.

So what do we learn from Peter, James and John? They were terrifed, just like you, discovering the wickness of the world. They were terrified, just like you, once the truth about the lies of the god-of-this-ages were exposed. The light shined in their heart... told them to listen to Jesus... they were terrified.

But they didn't stay on the ground for long. They stood up. They walked down that mountain. And only after Jesus' resurrection did they fully understand what all this meant.

Think about what the Light of the World has done for you. Understand it through the lense of the cross, and get yourself up! It's not the same as walking out of a theater, rather its quite the opposite. Your getting up because you have hope and know that so many are still afraid. You are getting up and entering the story so that unbelievers may be pulled out of the darkness. The lies of this world will be exposed and the light of grace will finally shine within all people. Together we will see the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.