Lutheran Devotional 9th July 2025, Wednesday Message
TOPIC: Moved
Colossians 1:1-3, 12-14 – Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, … giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
When I was a child, I was fascinated to find out that there are planets that are tidally locked. That means that the planet always shows the same face to the star that it’s orbiting, and the other side faces out into darkness. We used to think Mercury was like this, though now we know that things are a bit more complicated. But a truly tidal-locked planet—what would it be like to live there?
Pretty strange, I think. The bright side would never have night, and the other side would never have day. There would be a thin circle all around the planet of eternal twilight. And of course the temperatures would be hugely different between night and day sides.
Imagine what it would be like, to live on such a planet—especially if you suddenly got moved from the night side to the day side! The change would be overwhelming. And that’s the kind of change Paul is talking about when he says God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
What difference are we talking about? The difference between death and life; between hatred, anger, grief, loss, and fear on the one hand, and love, joy, peace, comfort, and hope on the other. The difference between living somewhere people were never meant to be, under the power of the devil—and living with Jesus, our Savior, who loves us, in the place He calls “the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34b).
And how do we get from the dark to the light? Through God’s lovingkindness, shown to us in Jesus, our Savior.
If we really were on a tidally locked planet, we could move ourselves from the dark side to the light side—at least in theory. But that’s not the case with our spiritual life. For that move, we need help—we need Jesus. We can’t do it on our own. But He can do it—and He has. That’s what His suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead were all about.
Now, if we trust in Jesus, we live on the light side—and we have all the warmth and light we could ever need in Him. Thanks be to God.
WE PRAY: Dear Father, thank You for bringing me to live in Your Son’s kingdom, in His light and warmth. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- Why do people call Jesus the light of the world?
- Why would it make sense to call Him the warmth of the world as well?
- How has Jesus brought light and warmth into your life?
Today’s Readings:
Lutheran Devotional 9th July 2025 was written by Dr. Kari Vo.