Live As Children of Light, Eph. 5: 8-10

The writer Joseph Pearce writes, “It has been said, quite correctly, that we write as well as we read. It can also be said, equally correctly, that we think as well as we read.” With that idea in mind, would it not follow that, if we read holy Scripture well, we might encounter the realm of reality as God intended it, not as the world presents it? We might also come to realize how our own human sinfulness distorts God’s reality. To read Scripture well is to see its connection to the reality of the world as it is, and to see how and why it can and should be better. If we read Scripture well, we will not only think well, but we will live well.

“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5: 8-10). We became children of light at the moment of our baptism. From that moment on, we have been called to be bearers of God’s light, that light that “produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” This passage reminds us, too, of Jesus’ words, “Truly I tell you, unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:3).

To be children of light, we must embrace humility; we must recognize our dependence on God, our heavenly Father. Again, to read Scripture well is to learn to see the world as it is, not as it claims to be. When we come to the Scriptures with child-like curiosity and wonder, we begin to recognize that in reading the Scriptures, we are sitting at the feet of our Divine Teacher, the Source of all that is really good, true, and beautiful. When we read scripture with this in mind, we can more readily begin to hear the clear and simple truth of the Gospel. When we read the Scriptures well, with child-like humility and wonder, we begin to “think well”. We are drawn more and more to the wisdom of our true Teacher, Jesus Christ, rather than to the ‘wisdom’ of the world.

We live as children of light when we see the world with child-like innocence. A child of the light recognizes the wisdom of Jesus’ words, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Lk 6: 37-38). A child of the light recognizes that, like him or herself, all others are made in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, possess an infinite dignity and, therefore, deserve infinite respect, no matter their present condition is. A child of the light responds instinctively to the suffering of others, out of compassion, without counting the cost, emulating Jesus.

As Paul tells us, children of light, by the way they live their lives, “produce every kind of goodness and righteousness, and truth”, and that this is “pleasing to the Lord.” Just like a child wants to be more like his father, or her mother, a child of the light, then, desires to become more like his Teacher. Matthew gives us this to think about. A child of the light is like a “city on a hill that is not hidden” (Mt. 5:14). He or she is like a “lamp set on a lampstand giving its light to the whole house” (v. 15). “Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (v. 16).

You see, when we read the Scriptures well, we begin to think well, and have the hope then of being more able to live well with God’s generous grace. God wants us to become children of the light for the world. Scripture, Paul tells us, is “God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” 2 Tim. 3:16). Children of the light are always open to learning because they are wise enough to know that they do not know everything. They have a proper fear of the Lord, and it is to Him that they go to learn the truth about what is good for their training in righteousness.

It is those who humble themselves to be like little children who can become “children of the light” who can then bring others to Christ by modeling the power and the joy that can come from loving one another in the manner that Jesus loves us. It is they who bring the light of Christ into the world by humbly and willingly living in the light of the law of God. In their efforts to love God and all others with all of their being, they keep the light of Christ present in the world. By living Christ-like lives, with child-like wonder and awe, they push back the darkness of hate and injustice and make room for the hope of reconciliation and peace.

Lord, help us to read your Holy Scriptures well, so that we might learn to think well and to live well in the light of your truth. Give us the graces we need to become your humble and joyful children of light in our homes, our places of work, and in the world at large. We pray in your name, Jesus. Amen.