Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.  Psalm 89:15

But now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light.  Ephesians 5:8

Walking my dog (or more accurately being drug by my dog) the other afternoon a thought occurred to me as we walked in the afternoon sun.  I could plainly see my shadow.  The sun was bright and I could see my dark outline on the pavement.  It was the action of how the shadow was made that got me thinking.  First and foremost you need a light source.  Now in this case, it was the sun.  There can be man made shadows but most often those are dull imitations to the brightness and crispness of the shadow that comes from the sun.  Secondly, we have to be out in the sun to cast one and to see it.  No shadow was ever cast in a darkened, lightless room.  I also noticed that all things that were out in the sun with me were casting shadows.  Albeit many of shadows were different, being in the light of the sun’s rays has an impact on everything.

So the question for us is, in the spiritual sense:  are we casting a shadow?  There are 25 passages in the bible dealing with light.  In virtually all of them, light is a characteristic given to the nature of God and/or Jesus Christ.  The comparison is also made that we often do not like light.  That we like darkness because we do dark things that we don’t want shown.

And if you want to cast a shadow, how do you go about doing it.  Of course the answer would seem obvious, we need to find a light source.  That is why the question is not just about casting a shadow but what type, how clear and definite is it?  Because, there are many different light sources out there.  Light comes from our computer screens, and TVs.  Light comes from the lightbulbs we have in our houses.  Yet the shadows that get cast from those sources are slight and indefinite in nature.  And when we rely only on those sources, we can turn off the light when we feel we are about to do something evil that we don’t want seen.  When we are out in the light of the sun, there is no turning it off.  Also to cast the clearest most definite shadow requires us to move.  We must move to the light.  So to cast a spiritual shadow from the Lord as our light, we must move to him.  How do we do that?  The energy for that light comes from the Word of the Lord.  That Word can come to us in many forms.  It can come to us through what is written in the bible.  It can come to us through fellowship with other God serving people.  Finally, you can receive the word directly from God, through prayer.

So let it may be for all us that we may find ourselves constantly seeking the pure light.  Knowing that the world will try to block that light with clouds of fear, wayward thinking and wrong desires.  Knowing also that there is nothing that can stop, hide or turn off the Light of Jesus Christ and the Love of Our Heavenly Father.  So go, seek, stand in the light and cast your perfect shadow.

Amen