The Light of Christ is Revealed on Rust and Dew Drops

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One morning, I noticed pretty dew drops sparkling in the sunshine on the steel beams of my lanai screen. They reminded me of God’s many treasures, the gems or diamonds He gives to each us. But next to them were rusty bolts that held the steel beams together.

I hadn’t noticed this rust before. The sun was shining on them with just the right angle to catch my attention. What a contrast!

The diamond dew drops were sparkling in the same sunshine that was drawing my attention to the rust! Then God shared with me the awareness that the Sunshine (the Light of Christ) that reveals the gifts and blessings of God is the very same Light that exposes the sins and troubles and ugliness of our lives. Since it’s all revealed by the same Light, it’s all a blessing — even seeing the ugliness is good!

If it were not for God shedding His Light on what’s rusting, we would never notice we’re sinning and in need of repentance. We would not realize that we’re succumbing to unhealthy thinking and in need of making changes in our lives.

But, I asked God, what about those people who refuse to change or repent? You are always shedding your Light on the rust, so why doesn’t everyone make use of this opportunity to improve their lives?

He replied that these people are living in a dream world of their own making. They are not looking at life with open eyes. They don’t see what God’s Light is revealing because they are sleeping. Think of any recent dream you’ve had. In this dream world, we can see what’s going on, so it appears that everything is lit by daylight. But what happens and what we see in the dream is nothing more than our personal view of reality. In truth, nothing is real. We seem to be walking on the ground, but in fact we are standing on an illusion. We seem to be talking to other people, but in fact we are speaking to various parts of our inner self. We seem to be doing actual activities, but nothing is actually accomplished. The moment we awaken, the dream world ceases to exist. Nothing of it remains but a vague memory.

When people choose to live in their dream world — because at some point in their lives they came to believe that reality was too painful, too rusty — they see neither the rust God is revealing nor the blessings He offers. God is the ultimate Rustoleum! He is very capable of and strongly desiring to help us clean up the rust before the bolts deteriorated completely. Plus, He wants to show us the countless diamond drew drops of our blessings.

So, we need to pray for the sleeping dreamers to be shaken awake so thoroughly that God gets their attention before they head back to bed. Some folks need big shocks, like earthquakes, to awaken them enough to stay awake. And we who are already awake must make every effort to stay alert and alive in the real world.