2 Corinthians 4:6. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Christian, your salvation is no less amazing, glorious, and miraculous than that very first day of creation when God said, Let light shine out of darkness.
When God chose to create the light he chose to reveal himself. The light that broke through and shattered the darkness revealed the physical creation, but it also revealed the Creator. As the psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” With that darkness destroying light God’s love, goodness, and perfection were made visible.
And in Christ, God has again shattered the darkness with light. He has shattered the darkness of our hearts by shining the spiritual light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle is jumping quickly from Genesis to Exodus. In Exodus 33 Moses prayed, “Lord, show me your glory.” Do you remember the story? Because “no one can see God’s face and live,” God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and passed by allowing only his back to be seen. “The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and merciful,” God cried as he walked past Moses covering the prophet’s face with his hand.
Christian, our experience of God is even greater than Moses’ experience on Mount Sinai. We have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have seen the “face” of God in the cross of Christ. We have seen what the fullness of compassion and mercy look like – sacrifice.
In Christ, we have an illuminated heart.
An illuminated heart?
Yes. Just like God’s creation of light illuminated our eyes and allowed us to see all the physical realities around us, now by the indwelling life of Christ, we have an illuminated heart and can see all of the spiritual realities around us – if we choose to.
Just think about what you know that others don’t. Think about what you can “see” that others are blind to. Because God’s light has shown in our hearts we can see into the deepest secrets of God, his mysterious redemptive plan through Christ.
But are your spiritual eyes even open? Are you daily looking into your illuminated heart to know the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Are you interpreting all of life through the lens of the cross and resurrection of Christ? Are you making daily choices from spiritual realities and eternal life?
The illuminated heart means we now know the meaning of life. We can see into the next dimension. We can engage in spiritual warfare. We can discern evil from good. We can hope beyond death. We can long for and see eternity. We can love beyond sensual experience. We are guided internally by the Spirit’s love in our hearts. We can see real transformation in others and in ourselves. We can pray in faith, believing, nothing doubting. We can see the upside down nature of the kingdom of God where the first are last and the last are first. Where winning comes by losing, strength comes by weakness, living comes by dying. And most importantly, we can understand all the mysteries of God and his salvation found in the God-man Jesus Christ.
Christ in us is the ultimate reality shining in our very beings. To see Christ is to see the face of God and live. God’s glory not just with or around us, but IN us. Now “to live is Christ” is to have an illuminated heart by this indwelling glory of God. In Christ, we can truly know our God. We can look into his face and not just survive, but truly thrive.
You
How often are you aware of the spiritual realities around you?
You in Christ
How does knowing that the Presence of God lives in you give you confidence to live within the presence of God?
Christ in you
What is one way you might live from your illuminated heart today (the heart of Christ)? For example: loving and enemy, trusting God’s sanctification, awareness of spiritual warfare.
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Playlist: Illuminated Hearts.
Click Here to this playlist on Spotify!
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To see today’s post from the TLIC Family blog –> Click Here
To Live is Christ 