Quote: Light or Dark?

~ It Is Not Always Straightforward ~ 

How Would You Have Answered My Young Daughter? 

The following is an excerpt from a book.

Will it be light or dark in Heaven?” asked my then five-year-old daughter Laura. It was evening and I had just tucked her into bed. As I sat on the edge of her bed she looked up with an inquisitive innocence that communicated to me that it was a serious question.

We had developed a little game at bedtime; I would ask Laura a question regarding the Bible, and she would provide the answer. It was, I thought, a good way to communicate some Christian truths in a natural way. One of the questions that she never missed was, “What three things that characterize God’s nature start with L?” Her response was always immediate, sure, and consistent, “God is love, God is light, and God is life.” Because I was sure that she knew these concepts well, it bothered me to have her now pose this question, which to me had such an obvious answer.

Calmly and methodically I began to help Laura discover the answer for herself. “Well, Honey,” I began, “what three things characterize the nature of God?” “But Dad,” she replied, “you know I know that! What I want to know is will it be light or dark in Heaven?” “Well, Laura, what do you think?” “Dad!” her exasperated soft voice replied. As much as I didn’t want to give in and spoon-feed her the answer, I replied, “Honey, since God IS light, don’t you suppose it will be very, very light in heaven?”

Laura appeared to be deep in thought for a few seconds and then came her reply, “I thought it would be very, very, dark so that we would be able to see Him better!” I must admit I like her concept better than my own, and to this day when reflecting back on that moment I feel a lump in my throat.

Throughout the Bible we find man pictured as being in darkness—actually more literally “as darkness”—or spiritually blind. Those who have discovered and acted upon the truth of Jesus Christ as the Son of God are pictured oppositely as in the light—literally “as light”—with spiritual sight.

As we begin our study of parallels between sunlight and Sonlight, consider the apparent paradox: it is physically harmful to look directly at the sun, but spiritually necessary to look to the Son for direction and salvation (Numbers 21:8, John 3:14).

As a flower moves itself to face the sun, we should keep our focus on the Son. A.W. Tozer put it this way, “God made us to be like planets. Around and around they go, held together by the magnetic attraction of the sun.”

May you always keep the Son in your eyes!

~ from “GOD LIGHT: Sunlight - Sonlight, pgs 23-24 (ISBN: 0-7414-7553-7)              

Learn more about this important book at Amazon, the Publisher, or the Author’s website.

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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