Last week, in Written on the Heart, Part 4, we saw that God reveals His lifestyle for us through His Word. He writes these thoughts on our hearts. How can we most easily learn to reflect that lifestyle?
An elderly lady talked with me after she had been to a rare family gathering. Her family is well scattered and on this occasion they were seated together for a meal at a round table.
She was particularly interested in a middle-aged man she had not seen for many, many years and listened intently to smatterings of things about him that came through in the conversations.
Her interest was intense because, although his grandfather had died in the lad’s early school days, he was so like his grandfather. Even the younger man’s looks and work and habits reflected his grandfather’s, as though they had the same heart and mind.
Strangely, she said to me, “He was living the same life as his grandfather lived. It was as though he threw light on his grandfather.”
She opened up some far-reaching thoughts of my own because I read somewhere that a meaning of the word light, is “to make one’s thoughts known.” We use it that way when something is difficult and we say, “let’s throw some light on the subject,” and we reach for the dictionary.
Interestingly, the very first spoken words of God on our planet were, “Let there be light…” (Gen. 1:3).
Reading Scripture, I discovered that the same word for light is sometimes used in Psalms and by the Prophets. The Lord is quoted that “light is sown for the righteous…” (Ps. 97:11) and he has called the righteous “for a light to the gentiles…” (Is 42:6) and “The Lord shall be thine everlasting light.” (Is 60:20)
When Hosea was speaking to his people, he said the Lord “had slain them by the words of my mouth” and then he said, “thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.” (Hosea 6:5).
Clearly, when God said let there be light, and “let us make man in our image…” (Gen 1:26), He wrote his love and his judgments into Adam’s very being. God did not create an empty heart or an empty mind. He filled heart and mind with illumination.
And isn’t it interesting that using light in the same way, Jesus said in his sermon to his people, “Ye are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14).
The heart of Adam before the fall reflected God, as the younger man’s heart reflected his grandfather. And God’s choice for us is demonstrated in Jesus. Let’s resolve to reflect God’s choice for us today.
Elizabeth Price
But how can we learn to reflect Jesus and learn His lifestyle? Please join us next week for Written on the Heart, Part 6.
(To access the entire “Written on the Heart” mini-series, please click here.)