Until The Day Dawns

2 Peter 1:16-21

We have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19)

FOR ALL ITS BENEFITS, the Reformation marked the beginnings of a turn inward, a move toward a very personalized faith in which each individual would take responsibility for his or her own spiritual growth. That took a long time—quite a few Reformation-era churches and communities of faith saw religion as a corporate affair and imposed church discipline on individuals for the sake of the group—but today we consider such approaches nosy or intrusive. Faith has become a private matter, a personal concern, nobody’s business but our own. We want to be treated like spiritual grown-ups who can make decisions for ourselves.

In making our decisions, however, it’s important to remember that other people have a stake in our spiritual growth. It isn’t just a private matter, regardless of how personal it seems. As our faith grows, Christ is being formed in our hearts—the Morning Star is arising, the Day is dawning, and the reality of the Spirit is making himself manifest through us. We experience enormous personal benefits in that process, but it’s much bigger than ourselves. The world needs this dawning of the new day. The Morning Star does not arise in us in order to be kept secret. As expressed in Isaiah—one of the prophets we are urged to pay close attention to in the first half of today’s verse—“the glory of the LORD rises to shine on you” (Isaiah 60:1). The Jesus in us is a corporate matter. He arises for the sake of the world.

We can be glad that the days of the spiritual community controlling its members are not as common as they once were. But the days of its members offering their spiritual growth and gifts to the community continue. Jesus works in us for our sake, but not ours alone. His light is rising in order to shine. His glory is to be made visible. Your growth in him—and his in you—is a blessing to the world.

{Lord, it’s hard to imagine the words of prophets being fulfilled in your people today—and specifically in me. Be fully formed in me for the glory of your name. Let the Day dawn for me, in me, and through me. Amen.