Glorious

Devotion for the Week...

When we were first married, Paul and I spent 6 years living in Igloolik, a small community in Canada’s high arctic. Because we were above the Arctic Circle, the sun would set at the end of November and not rise again until mid-January. It wasn’t as hard to live with as it sounds…in fact, we found the 24 hour daylight in the summer much harder! How do you settle down for bed when it looks like noon all night long?? 

When the sun did come back up in January, it just barely blipped over the horizon for a few minutes at noon, then went back down. Each day after, it would rise a few minutes earlier and set a few minutes later, so the days got gradually longer. I can remember walking mid-morning in February one year and feeling like the morning was just glorious, then realizing it was because the sun was finally up early enough that my morning walk was in the sunshine.

That glorious walk in the sunshine is what I think of when I read Colossians 1:12-14: “He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” What a great visual that is!

We’ve all been in pitch dark before and we’ve all stood in bright sunlight. We know what that contrast feels like in the physical realm. Now picture it in a spiritual context. We had been in the pitch dark spiritually, with no light at all. But now, because of our faith in Jesus, God has moved us into the bright sunlight of His kingdom and it is glorious!