The Christ Candle

To overcome darkness in life, we need to rekindle Christ’s light, allowing it to illuminate and transform our hearts.

Lately I have been very tempted to light a Christ candle. 

I heard a talk about the Lost Sheep parable. The sheep managed to wander away, and the son willfully left. But in the companion parable, the coin was lost inside the house. It was lost by the woman (the ecclesia), and a candle had to be lit to find it. The ecclesia was so dark that the light of Christ had to be rekindled to spread its warm glow.

John wrote 

Scripture is full of light images, from Eden to Revelation. Finally, in Revelation, we learn there will be no more need for the sun, as “the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” (Revelation 21:23 KJV). God’s glory will fill the earth.

Jesus described those in the land of Zebulon and Naphtali as “a people living in darkness who have seen a great light.” (Matthew 4:16).

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel shrouded in darkness. The world is slowly closing in, the thorns are choking, and there seems little hope of change. I need the Christ candle. I need the light of Christ to gradually filter into all the dark recesses of my life and heart—to bring to light anything I am keeping hidden from shame or guilt, or I have put in the “too hard” basket.

What am I afraid of? Why do I need to keep some things hidden?

Can we really take God at His word here? Do we really believe that we have been chosen?

Chosen for what?

Can we really imagine that? 

Paul writes that he desires that Christ’s life become visible in our lives (Galatians 4:19, Romans 13:14, Philippians 2:5). We can make the invisible visible in our lives! Jesus was the exact representation of God, and we are the Body of Christ. So, that makes us the representation of God on earth. But to be that we have to allow Christ’s light to shine in us and reveal all the areas that need to be swept out and renovated.

C.S. Lewis wrote,

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.2

Imagine that! God is living in us.

We had better get the vacuum and duster out and tidy up a bit to prepare for renovation in our lives. Giving up parts of our life for Christ is not easy. We will resist or justify, or just plain hold on as tightly as we can to what we know. What we know is safer than the unknown. But is it?

Jesus said he would send the Holy Spirit as the “guarantee” of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14). The word “guarantee” originally comes from a Phoenician word and is sometimes used in literature for “engagement ring.” What a beautiful metaphor! We become part of the bride of Christ, and that promise is sealed with a ring.

There are many verses about being filled with the Spirit, allowing it to do the cleaning and renovating needed in our hearts and lives. We need to give ourselves up to its work and love.

We now belong to God because we have been adopted into His family.

So, what does this mean in our day-to-day lives?

We have changed forever, and we cannot return to where we were. Our lives are now different. They have to be different because we have been redeemed by the glory of the cross. We are now Kingdom people, showing the world what it will be like when Jesus is King. Paul calls Jesus Lord, as Jesus now has all authority on earth and in heaven. (Matthew 28:18).

We try to live now as we will live in the Kingdom. If we want peace in the Kingdom, then we live peaceful lives now. Each individual believer is a microcosm of the Kingdom, chosen to be God’s image bearer, to reflect God’s glory on earth, and to reflect the praises of the world to God.

Helen Smallwood,
Melbourne Ecclesia, VIC