"I Have Seen the Light"

I was at my monthly Veterans Honor Guard Meeting, and the Commander of the Guard, John, a Navy vet, opened the meeting with something new.  He called it, "I have seen the light."  

John asked for Paul and I, both of us Marines, to stand up.  I looked at Paul and started laughing.  Paul was wearing a "Navy Grandpa" shirt, and I was wearing a Naval Academy sweatshirt.  

In John's opinion, we two Marines had "seen the light" and were now supporting Navy!

"I have seen the light."  It means to understand something that you didn't understand before, especially something you were confused or skeptical about.

And it's such a Christian thing to say, or rather, to feel and be aware of.  

Before Christ, before His Word, His truth, and His forgiveness were made known to me and given to me, I was in darkness.  I didn't understand, and I didn't even know that I didn't understand.  Isaiah describes us as...

The people who walked in darkness...Isaiah 9:2a

The crazy thing is, walking in darkness is easy.  It's a "going along with the ways of the world in a manner that pleases me and seems good to me."  In a sense, it's being my own god.

But when the truth of the gospel is made known to a person, when the light of Jesus shines in my life, my heart, my brain, my very being - then something changes.  I see and am aware of my sin and my salvation, my Savior.

In reading and teaching from Isaiah, Jesus says:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.            Luke 4:18

Jesus likens His good news to a blind person literally gaining the ability to see, and He even gives us that "picture" by healing a blind person, giving that person sight.   

And it's an amazing thing to recognize and mourn my own sin, while at the same time being comforted and knowing that all is forgiven through Jesus - to see the light.

St. Paul, in his writings to the churches, refers to this seeing.  And he recognizes that, at this time, it's not complete; that while we see the good news of Jesus and rejoice in our salvation, we don't yet see it clearly and perfectly.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.  1 Corinthians 13:12

And I agree with Paul.  In this life, I'm always going to sin, to fall short, to fail.  I don't always do the right thing, and sometimes I don't even know what that right thing is.

But the light is still there in His Word.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.       Psalm 119:105

The same light is there to share with others...

...to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [Jesus].  Acts 26:18  

And that light is promised in Revelation.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  Revelation 21:23

I have seen the light, and it's Jesus.