Read: Ephesians 5:1-14
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. (v. 8)
The peace advocate Alexander Papaderos was once asked, “What is the meaning of life?” He fished out a small mirror and told a childhood story about the day he found a piece of a broken mirror from a German motorcycle outside his village during World War II.
As a boy, he made it a game to use the mirror to reflect light into the most inaccessible places. When he grew up, he realized that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for his life. Papaderos concluded: “I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I reflect light into the dark places of this world . . . This is what I am about. This is the meaning of life” (quoted in Kendra Creasy Dean, Almost Christian, pp. 83-84).
Paul says that once we “were darkness,” but now we “are light in the Lord” (v. 8). Christ lights our way as we run the race. But as we run, we also reflect Christ’s light into the world. We become children of light, called to walk in a way that is visibly different from the world. “For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true” (v. 9). So let us reflect Christ’s light in all the dark places. —Brian Keepers
As you pray, ask Christ to illumine your path and make you a reflector of his light everywhere you go.
About the Author
Brian Keepers has been an ordained pastor in the Reformed Church in America for 23 years. He is currently serving as the lead pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. Brian is married to Tammy, and they have two daughters and a granddaughter.
