Glow In The Dark

SOMETIMES, when you find yourself by an ocean at twilight watching the waves roll in, you might catch a greenish glow in the curl of a wave. Depending on the time of evening, the tide, and ocean currents, you may see a luminescence in the water: the glow of tiny creatures called plankton.

You may have never thought much about plankton, humble, microscopic organisms inhabiting our oceans. Yes, they’re simple creatures, way down there on the food chain, but here is something you can admire: They glow in the dark. After absorbing sunlight all day on their aquatic journeys, they release an iridescent greenish-bluish light into the night. I remember camping in the summertime by the Delaware shore as a child and watching the soft glow on the undersides of the waves as they hurried to the shore.

Plankton have the quality of bioluminescence, which literally means “life that glows.”

Jesus calls on us as His followers to have that same essential quality. He wants us to glow in the dark. Yes, Jesus is “the light of the world,” but in Matthew 5:14-16 He turned that around and said to us, “You are the light of the world . . . a town built on a hill . . . a lamp . . . on its stand.”

It’s a life that glows, even in the dark. Perhaps especially in the dark. The apostle Paul urged us to be “‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life” (Philippians 2:15-16).

Through the years, Ken and I have been in some very, very dark places in this world as we have sought to bring help and hope to disabled people in forgotten, impoverished cities and villages. The darkness can be both literal, an absence of electricity and streetlights, and spiritual, where Satan and his hordes hold a tightfisted grip over so many broken lives. But we have met radiant believers in such places, men, women, and children whose lives shine in the darkness, clear and clean as starlight.

Are you in a dark place today? Your darkness today might involve illness, depression, physical pain, financial troubles, marriage struggles, or worry over loved ones on a dangerous path. But the more time you spend in the presence and conscious awareness of Jesus Christ—reading His Word, speaking to Him, and earnestly cultivating His presence—the more your life will take on His glow. You will be noticed in spite of yourself, and draw attention . . . to Him.

GOING DEEPER . . .

Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

2 Corinthians 3:18, MSG

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:3-4

Even when you don’t have the time or opportunity to speak a word for Christ, you can still do this: You can spend time in His presence, soaking up His light, and then allow that light to shine in whatever dark or uncertain situation you find yourself.