Live as children of light . . . and find out what pleases the Lord. (Eph. 5:8–10)

The Energy Information Association estimates that in 2013, the total energy consumption of the entire world was 157,500 TWh (terrawatt hours). One terawatt is a unit of power equal to one trillion watts. One terawatt hour is a unit of electrical energy equal to that done by one terawatt acting for one hour. The amount of energy mankind uses globally is staggering. To keep the lights burning and the air conditioners and furnaces running and the machines rolling and the computers clicking takes trillions and trillions of units of wattage. Yet, there is a Source of light that is greater. He lives inside us.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our minds and hearts. He teaches us and guides us and also shines through us. We are to live as “children of light” and are to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.”

In John 3:19, Jesus tells us that people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. The human psyche is bent toward the forbidden, the salacious, and the shocking. Paul admonishes us not to focus on the shameful things that godless people do but rather to expose them and to offer them our Light.

Power plants keep the physical darkness away. But only the Holy Spirit can dispel spiritual darkness.

Starve the curiosity about the darkness; love the Light.

Valorie Quesenberry is a pastor’s wife and mom who lives in Indiana and likes to recharge with coffee and time with friends.

© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.