Painting, Light, and God

This past week I have had the great privilege of helping paint my parents' bedroom yellow.

Seriously, it's been a lot of fun! Sure, it may not be what I'd choose to do during my free time. But I have been able to get some practical knowledge on the subject, and hang out with my dad!  As I mentioned previously, my parents chose to paint their bedroom yellow. It really is a beautiful shade of yellow--light, pastel, and very pretty.

One day this past week, my dad and I had just finished painting for the day, and were admiring what we had gotten done. My dad had had the light turned on, but now he turned the light off to see what the room looked like with just natural light coming through the windows. I noticed a difference with the light turned off. While both with and without the light the room looked yellow, if the light was turned on the paint had a different hue, a different shade of yellow than when the light was turned off.

That got me to thinking. You know, our spiritual lives are a lot like my parents' room, and the changing hues. When God sees us how we truly are, we are sinful, dirty, and ugly. Really bad people. But when we let Jesus--the True Light--shine upon us, God the Father doesn't see all the nasty stuff in us. Instead, he sees Jesus' perfect character and life in us. There's a Bible verse that I think well illustrates this point, and it's 2 Corinthians 5:21--

"God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

When we have accepted Jesus, and let Him fully rule in our lives, God does not see us as nasty people. He sees us through Christ, who is perfect. Sure, we may sin, but when we ask God to forgive us, he truly "forgives and forgets"!

Just like my parents' room. Do you have the Light shining through you, on you?