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2. Rise to Welcome the Light

How great is God’s promise to you! He invites you to His wonderful light. Do not wrap yourself up in your problems and darkness. For God’s light is shining on you. Open your heart to His gentle light. You will be illuminated by His brightness and become like a mirror reflecting the glory of God. He is inviting you personally. So do not hold on to your sorrows. And do not let your anger and hatred shut the door to your heart, for God’s love is speaking to you and His power will renew you.

Dear reader, come to God’s light. Draw near to His majesty and do not fear that your sins will be exposed in His light. Confess your sins to Him. You cannot be renewed with the eternal light unless you admit your need to be cleansed and purified. For everyone who thinks he is righteous is still in darkness. But the one who humbly draws near to God, finds his pride broken. Then he starts to walk in the light. You see, the nearer we approach God the clearer our spiritual condition looks. The saints are the broken ones. Therefore, our pride needs to be broken before God. Otherwise He cannot heal us. The apostle John experienced this truth, for he wrote in his letter:

You too, confess to God all the sins you have committed: lies, stealing or impurity. Approach the Light of Truth and confess your weakness to the Lord. Do not deceive yourself and do not imagine that you are righteous. There is none good except God!

We assure you, dear reader, that God loves you just as you are, for He loves sinners. He desires every man to repent and return to Him voluntarily so that none may perish.

God calls you today: “Stop and return. Come to Me!” If you continue in sin, you will fall into eternal hell. Repent and return to the living God. Leave your sin and open your heart to the Spirit of our God. Do not stay away but come and stand in His Light. God’s love is drawing you to Himself so that He can fill you with His pure life.

Some people hear the call of God, respond and try to do His will. They readily accept any sacrifice or labor to please Him. A Sheikh in Bangladesh was preaching to his hearers about the law of God. He was stressing to them that hell awaited everyone who did not keep all the requirements of the Law. Suddenly, he realized that he himself was also in danger of going to hell, because he realized the corruption of his thoughts and the error of his speech. So, he decided to fast and pray until he was pure and clean in all his ways. After six months of fasting, his wife deserted him as she didn’t want to live with a hermit. Life with a reclusive man is unnatural. However, this devout Sheikh persevered for one year, trying to purify himself. Then he started feeling pessimistic and despair overcame him, for he realized more and more that no one is able to reform himself by his own efforts; even prayer does not save man from his sins.

It was then that God sent him some faithful friends who guided him to the true Light, which shines from the Holy Scriptures. He applied himself to the study of these books and was illumined by the divine Light. Thus, he was cleansed from his past life by the saving grace of God and was transformed into an upright man.

Would you like to read what that Sheikh read and to discover prayerfully what he discovered? Meditate on the following passage and ask God to open your eyes so that you will be saved from your sins by the power of His splendid light.