Resurrection Light

After giving me the gift of an unplugged spring break week with some pure laziness, a celebration of our anniversary (22 years...wooohooo!) and a combination of a few house-related projects, God is right back to speaking in His loudest inaudible voice.

Saturday night, Discovery Channel had a fascinating documentary about the shroud of Turin. It was the perfect Christian-geek-science content for my family, and we watched enthralled as experts discussed the scientific evidence (mixed with a little Gnostic nonsense) wrapped around the possible shroud of Jesus.

There was one explanation that captured not only my mind but my heart. One scientist began discussing the actual source of the imprint on the cloth. I had always mistakenly assumed that the print was created by body fluids, but this scientist said that because of the surface thin nature of the print, there was only one possible source that he embraced.

Light.

This scientist is a believer in the resurrection of Jesus, and tears filled his eyes as he explained his belief that at the moment Jesus' dead body was re-enlivened it was filled with a bright light that left the imprint on the shroud.

Our family excitedly talked about the scriptural implications of this possibility--the bright Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, the shining angel at the tomb and John's description of a blinding Jesus in revelation.

At the end of the documentary a priest said, "My faith is not dependant on the authenticity of the shroud of Turin, but the possibility strengthens my faith." I felt exactly the same way.

As I turned over this new thought about light emanating from a newly resurrected Jesus, I started thinking about myself. Shouldn't that be true of me too? Jesus said,

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matt. 5: 14-16 (NIV)

If scripture is true in saying (and I believe it is from my own experience) that I was dead but now I'm alive in my belief in Jesus (Rom. 6)...that I am a new creation in my turning away from the sin that separated me from him (II Cor. 5:17)...that I have the same power in me that resurrected Jesus from the dead (Ephes. 1)...then doesn't it follow that in my moment of new life that I should be LIGHT?

For lots of you, this is not a new idea, and you're probably rolling your eyes right now and thinking, "What's up with Amy? Didn't she learn this in preschool at Church? 'This Little Light of Mine' and all of that?"

Here's the part that I've been grappling with. What is it really supposed to look like right now in this phase of my life that I'm light and the ambassador for Jesus in this world?

I'm getting some glimpses and some simple acts of obedience are beginning to take shape. I'll share more on Wed, because God just keeps silently shouting at me from every book I pick up, every study that I'm working on and every devotion I read. I'm slow, but I'm starting to see a pattern. :)

What about you? How are you being called to be light in your current circumstances? I'd love the encouragement of hearing your stories, and I know others would too. How has God called you to be light in the last month?