Slowly opening my eyes to experience the icy, crisp, cold air upon my stiffening lips and watching as the heat of my lungs becomes visible before my face, I find myself walking out of that place of dreams into that new world we call wakefulness. A spark of light falls in through the window like a child from a tree, playful and scared. Gazing upon its mystery and sitting in intensified anticipation as the glory of God comes dripping in through the window and coating the creation which surrounds me, I realize as if for the very first time what I have seemingly always taken for granted: a brand new day.
Has it ever occured to you that becoming a Christian might just be like waking for the first time? Like light unto creation Christ is to his people, always there yet not always visible to the naked eye, a reflection of the here and not yet of the kingdom of God. Survival in any situation no matter how great or how small requires some sort of sense perception and it is no wonder that 95% of the information we glean from the surrounding world is absorbed through the sight of our eyes. To know that light exists we must first see the light or else we would be in darkness for eternity dancing in ignorance of the “real” which lies just beyond our grasp. Too often we mistake darkness for light and it is only through the source of that light that we might actually be delievered.
If we wish to see this sleeping world awaken to the gospel of Christ we must first experience Christ in all His majesty and finally come to that realization that is both dreadful and beautiful at the same time: that our purpose in our short time on this earth is to glorify Him above all other things. We are to enter into that feast in the upper room where we find out that all Christ has done is ultimately for the purpose of the magnification of His father. To partake of Christ is to saturate ourselves in His magnificent presence, drinking in the glory of His Word in such a way that it spills over into the bedroom of the sleeping, dying heart.
You are invited to that feast, that great celebration of thanksgiving for the last breath taken upon a tool of death and the next breath taken in victorious resurrection. That victory is complete. It is finished. It is not truncated, fragmented, broken, or misplaced in any way. It cannot be improved upon, for perfection does not comprehend improvement. Yet in our brokenness we seem to seek another route, one that does not include the numinous redemption completed upon a tree. Do we honestly believe that we can in any way restrict or increase the glory of Christ? Is it even reasonable to say that we might come to that which is infinitely overflowing and think that we might make it better than it already is? If this were so we would not experience such things as sorrow, regret, the pain of hurting another, shame, guilt, or the shadows of our dark pasts.
It must be something else, for an imperfect, broken, fallen, finite creature cannot improve upon that which is infinite, all-powerful, and truly glorious. Could it be instead that we might rather be that which the rising Son shines upon, that which is meant to be an illumined reflection of the greater light, and that which is ultimately meant to be a magnificent picture of something infinitely greater than what the word magnificent can invoke in the human mind? Could it be that within our greater purpose to magnify the Son we might have the purpose of experiencing the reality of Christ’s forgiveness and share that experience in utter humility with the world around us? Perhaps.
Maybe we are to awaken to the world of Christ which has always been present but which has perhaps been so real that that in our broken state we could not see. Christ is there whether we see Him or not, and in all his mystery, beauty, and majesty the fog of indeterminate ambiguity only exists due to our depraved inability to see clearly that which is too clear to be seen. Knowing Christ is like waking up, clearing your eyes, and experiencing that slow sensation of adjusting focus to the bright light ahead. Once this occurs, you are awake. You are truly alive. And so we are told in His own words, “Wake, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.” (Ephesians 5:14)