“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5.14)

These words are an early hymn, an anthem of the early church, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” They are sharp in their spiritual reality and beautiful in their cadence. Like Lazarus, these words join in our minds with our own resurrection from the dead. Our spiritual death, in which we walked as if in an unending nightmare has come to an end. We have heard that voice crying in the wilderness and turned our faces toward the morning sun. We have been awakened to life, baptized into new life, standing now dripping in the dazzling light of morning.

Jesus is our shining light. From His mouth He speaks radiating light into the darkness that plagues humanity. It is not that we need to discourse and detail all the depravity of the world to bring the lies and lust to light. No, we need only live in the light of Christ. Jesus is the shining light that exposes the diseased roots of sin. If we will love the light we will experience the painful joy of sanctification as Jesus burns away the sickness. In the light we can awake from our dark prison and feel the warmth of redemption on our faces. We can stand, risen from the dead, as Christ shines on us. The meaningless, wasteful and flagrant sins that paled our souls in the darkness must yield to the all-powerful brilliance of our Savior King, Jesus Christ.

Jesus, thank you for forgiving my sin, for making away from the dark night that held me from freedom and I now stand free in the joy eternal of your shining light!