Communicable light
A chosen people, God calls us, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. We, 2000 years on, inherit this legacy, bestowed on the people of Israel as they travelled to the promised land (Exodus 19:5-6).
Living in a secular society, in which nothing higher is offered or promised than material prosperity or transient celebrity, we can bask in the glory of our position in Christ - in our election, in our access to God through him, in our calling to be holy before the Lord, and in the enduring fact of God's love. But is basking actually what we are called to do? The purpose of all this, Peter says, is that we 'may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light'. Because, of course, God chose Israel, so that they might be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 41:8-9; 42:6). Jesus came because God so loved the world. He chose his disciples so that they would go and bear fruit (John 15:16).
In a generation that sets such store by personal fulfilment, and feeling good about oneself, Christians need to be reminded of this inescapable biblical fact: we are saved in order to serve, in order to declare the Lord's praises.
But Peter makes it clear that what we have to declare is not a series of theological propositions. It is a personal testimony of what the Lord has done for us. It starts with darkness - the darkness of ignorance and lostness, of separation from the one who is the light. Then comes the sovereign call, which we each recognise as personal to ourselves. And as we respond to that call we move from darkness into his marvellous light - a light to transform our understanding, to guide our steps in the present and into the future. If we have really grasped this, we must surely desire to share it.
Can we not, in a society in which people so freely recommend their personal trainers and their herbalists, find ways of commending the one who meets all our deepest needs - our Lord Jesus Christ?
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.