May 3
God
is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
Light is transparency;
light is clearness; light is absolute purity; light is honesty; light is
openness of character. Light hides nothing; its whole action and nature is
contrary to hiding anything. It has nothing to hide; it shows everything; it
shows all: in other words, it is not deceitful. It does not want to cover
anything, or to pretend or make believe that something is other than what it
is. Light is single; it is not double; there is no duplicity about light. And
light is just - light!
There is “no darkness at
all” where there is light.... How many shades and aspects of darkness there
are! - a whole vocabulary of words. The Spirit has come to bring all that to an
end by applying the Cross, in which it was all brought to an end in the Person
of the Lord Jesus; to work out the meaning of the Cross in our lives, so that
everything that belongs to that kingdom of darkness is removed: so that in the
end, with us too, there is no darkness at all.
Is that really what we
think of, when we think of having, receiving, and being filled with the Holy
Spirit? Here again, perhaps, a little re-shaping of our ideas is called for. It
is true that He is many other things, as well as light: He is the Spirit of
Power, He is the Spirit of Wisdom; yes, He is many other things; but, with them
all, He is this. And we must not make more of those “demonstration” aspects of
the Spirit, in power, in gifts and capacities, in works, than we do of His
character side. If He really does His work in you and in me, He will make us to
be people who can bear to be “looked into” without any fear, without any
drawing of the blinds. Our lives and our motives will bear looking into.
By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Holy Spirit,
the Church, and the Nations
This photograph is by Eric Jonas Swensson of Sound Shore Media.
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