Have you seen the light? For years, I have had a love/hate relationship with the sun. My skin bears the evidence of years of damage from overexposure. But I need sunlight to produce vitamin D. Scientists say we need the light of the sun just to live. I am on a mission these days to see the first rays of the sun as they pierce the darkness each day. We may organize the rhythm of our lives around the sun rising and setting each day. As the Psalmist said, “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is to be praised” (Psalm 113:3 KJV).
Paul preached to the lynch mob, testifying about how he had been arrested by the light. As he approached Damascus to wreak havoc on the people of the Way, he encountered a brighter light than he had seen. Even his companions saw it, but it blinded Paul. The light came with a voice asking Paul why he had persecuted Jesus. Saul asked two questions: “Who are you, Lord?” and “What shall I do, Lord?” Notice that Paul directs these questions to a person who spoke with a personal voice at a frequency only Paul could understand
Jesus’ answers to Paul inform us as well: “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, alone is Lord. Accept no substitutes. “What shall we do, Lord?” Get up, go, and receive instructions. This is such good news for us today: we can get up. “Mind over mattress,” my friend Bruce Winter used to say. Then we go. Remember the great commission assumes we are going to go somewhere, today. “As you go . . . “ God has a purpose for each of us today. Part of that purpose is to be disciples of Jesus who make other disciples. What would God have to do to get our attention, today? If he interrupts us, will we talk to him and listen to him? We need his light to live. We have his light to give.
