“But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8)
Light is a wonderful thing. To state the obvious it helps us see what is really there. With a newborn in the house I spend a lot of time walking around the house in the night with only the light of the flashlight on my phone. The flashlight is pretty helpful to make sure that I don’t walk into a wall or trip over one of my kids shoes that has been left out but it doesn’t allow me to see everything. One night while I was getting ready to go to sleep I crouched down to plug my phone in on my side of the bed and as I began to stand up the flash light shown on a GIANT disgusting spider crawling on the wall right above my head. It was a total panic moment since I had to then find something to kill it in the dark all while not waking up my sleeping baby. Had the light in my room been on I would have seen it clearly when I walked in and not surprised. Light helps us see and think with a clear head.
As believers we are to live in the light and see things through the lens of the truth that we were lost in our sin and Christ came and died to save us from the path we were on. We are to wear our salvation like a helmet to protect our mind from the expected attacks we will face as we walk through this life. When we take a hold of this truth and let it keep our mind focus on the things that God would have us focus on it frees us up to do what Paul lays out in the rest of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
With a clear mind we can encourage and build each other up, we can recognize and honor the hard work of our leaders and show them respect, we can live at peace with one another, we can warn those who are lazy, we can encourage those who are fearful, care for those who are weaker in their faith, and be patient with all people. When we live like this it makes it possible to be joyful always, to pray always, and to be thankful in all circumstances.
Psalm 119: 105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” The more time that we spend in the Light the more clearly we will begin to see the world around us. Let us live in the light.
