Open Eyes And Light Divine

July 17, 2015

The Land Of Open Eyes And Light Divine

“I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.”

Acts 26:17b-18

In Saint Paul’s stunning encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he heard Jesus say the words quoted above from Acts 26. As the followers of Jesus, we too are called to hear these same words. We too are sent by Jesus to the people of the world “to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.”

Our first step is to appropriate King David’s prayer, “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow; “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”  (Psalm 51: 7, 10). We can’t open the eyes of others unless our eyes are first open. We can’t turn others from darkness to light unless we are walking in the light, and we can’t lead others to become set apart by faith until we are first set apart by faith in the risen Christ.

Being set apart by faith means we are living by faith, rather than seeking to justify our right-standing with God through a performance-based-acceptance lifestyle. We all are a work in progress, and while we may agree with John Wesley that we are going on to perfection, we know we haven’t yet arrived at that destination. But we have begun our journey, and along our trail we look for markers to indicate our progress toward the land of open eyes and light divine.

Here are a few of the markers I look for on my journey. Is my life more spacious, or is it too full to allow room for others? Is my attitude toward others more hospitable or critical? Do I tend to be more compassionate or judgmental toward the failures I see in others? By the way, my judgmental and critical attitude towards others is the revelation of my judgmental and critical attitude toward myself. When I become thus aware, I know I need to spend time contemplating the furious longing of God for me, because in the land of open eyes and light divine, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me” (Song of Solomon 7:10).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·         Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·         The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·         Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.