Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 11 June 2024, Tuesday Message
TOPIC: A Blinding, Wonderful Light
“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9
The other day I was telling my friend Doug Vinez how, on Saturday mornings when I was a kid, my neighborhood friends and I would hop on the streetcar and head to the Ambassador Theatre. We would load up on Peanut Chews and stake out seats midway up the aisle.
Doug told me about an old theater he used to visit. This one had no lobby. You walked through the glass doors, and within a few feet you would pass through a curtain and bump up against the back row. When the movie was over, there was no vestibule to ease you out of darkness and back into daylight. He described how kids would walk outside, rub their eyes, and almost bump into lampposts—the light was a jolt to their senses.
Doug added, “I almost forgot about that theater until I read 1 Peter 2:9.” When I asked him to explain the connection, he said, “As a Christian, I forget what a blinding jolt it was to be taken out of darkness and placed in light.”
He’s right. We Christians can hardly recall the blinding reality of being translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God’s dear Son. One minute we were heading to hell; the next, heaven. One minute we were dead in our sins; the next, alive unto God. If we really thought about it, we would be overwhelmed, rubbing our eyes and exclaiming, “What a jolt this is!”
May your heart never become so familiar with darkness that you forget the night-become-day reality of life in the Lord. The Lord Jesus has saved you, and it’s a change about which you must never become complacent.
PRAY: Lord of light, thank you for giving sight to me when I was blind to my own sin, and for removing me from the darkness of my lost state.
Joni Eareckson Tada is an American evangelical Christian author, radio host, artist, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization “accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community”.