THE Bible is full of language of light. Light is a very important theme in the Bible. Right from the very beginning, as “God created the Heavens and the earth and the earth was formless and empty and darkness was over the surface to the deep, and the Spirit was hovering over the waters.” And then the first thing God said in the Bible was, “Let there be light.” And in this passage (Ephesians 5:8-14), Paul is commanding us to walk or live our daily lives to walk as children of the light and then by so doing produce the fruit of the light, which he says, “consists in all goodness, all righteousness and all truth.” The call to live as children of light is a call for every child of God to be different from the people of the world.

Believers are in the world, but they are not part of the world. Living as children of light means fruit bearing that exposes the darkness. In Verse 8, Paul reminds his readers of their former way of life and then contrasts that with what they had become. We see this in Verse 8 with the two phrases: “Ye were sometimes darkness” and “but now are ye light in the Lord.” In other words, he is calling believers to live out their new identity “in Christ.” “The children of light” are placed in stark contrast with “the sons of disobedience” mentioned in Verse 6. In commanding us to “walk as children of light.”

The first thing we observe in Verse 8a is our past condition before we became born again. We were in darkness. It does not say that we were merely in darkness; we were darkness itself. We were spiritual and moral darkness. In this condition we served all sorts of ungodly lusts and desires. That was our previous condition. Now, we take note of our present condition in Verse 8b. We were darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. We are not merely living in the light; we are light because of Jesus Christ. It is because of salvation only through Jesus Christ that we are the light of the world. This is only possible because He abides in us and we abide in Him. Therefore, we are to walk as those who have come to the light of Jesus Christ. We are to behave and conduct ourselves as children of light. The walk of a Christian should reflect the truth that he is now enlightened (brought into the light of truth), no longer walking in spiritual darkness.

Paul says: “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Our world is so often a dark place. There is envy, jealousy, hatred, exploitation, greed, broken relationships, lust, drunkenness, pain, abuse, and worse. That is darkness. But in Jesus Christ, says Paul, we are light. This is a change of identity. We were once in darkness, but now we are light and we should walk as children of light. Christians should live as people who have the light of God. The imagery of light and darkness refers to one’s spiritual state. Christians are light. They don’t just walk in thelight, their souls have been transformed by the light of Jesus to become a light of Jesus. They are no longer trapped by darkness, but walk in righteousness. Salvation enables us to lay down our old life and take hold of the new life, we have in Christ. Living in the light produces goodness and righteousness and is pleasing to God (Ephesians 5:9).

• Today’s nugget: Light is the new identity in Christ. Prayer: Lord help me to be a shining light. Prayer lines: 08033299824. E-mail: [email protected], Rev. Abel UkachiAmadi, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria.