I don’t know about you, but I think that all God appears to want from us is honesty and humility — and they are, for me, the same thing.
If God is holding out for human perfection, God is going to have to wait a long time for all of us. Is there really any other way to read Jesus' stories of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, or the story of The Publican and the Pharisee in Luke18.9-14? In each story, the one who did wrong ends up being right — simply because he finally learns to be honest and humble about it. The one who is formally right ends up being terribly wrong because he is proud about his own performance.
So I ask myself: How have I been able to miss that important point?
I suspect it is because my heart wants to think well of myself and deny any shadow material. Only the soul knows we grow best in the shadows. We are blinded inside of either total light or total darkness, but "the light shines on inside the darkness, and it is a light that darkness cannot overcome" John 1:5. Ironically, it is in darkness, the shadows, that we find, and ever desire, more light. Mystics such as John of the Cross (1542-1591) recognized this to be true on the spiritual level first.
It seems the inner and outer worlds mirror one another.
So let us all pray today for the True Light: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us sinners. Turn us around so that we
can follow You in our daily life, the True Light of the world, especially our world, our life. Help us to live in and be motivated only by Your Light. Please let Your Light shine on us again this day, and this we pray in Your Name, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, amen!
From the Bible:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” John 1:5.
“But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him” John 11:10.
“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” Ephesians 5:8.
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