Shadows

John 8:12 (New International Version)
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Have you ever been out walking in the sun or even just standing, for that matter, on a bright sunny day in the middle of the summer? There is just something nice about walking into the sun, isn’t there? It’s warming. It’s peaceful. It’s refreshing. Did you ever look behind you while you were walking toward the sun? Depending on the time of day, I’m sure that you noticed a shadow on the ground behind you. It may have been a long shadow that stretched out far behind you or it may have been a short shadow right up on top of you. Either way, it was following you wherever you went! On a certain day of the year, however, at a certain time, there will be no shadow.

Jesus is the Son. He said, “I am the light of the world....” As we become Christians, we begin our journey toward the Son. The ultimate goal of every true believer is to be Christ-like. So we begin our journey. In the past is a shadow of the man or woman we used to be. That shadow represents the sins of our past. If you’ve ever been out in the sun walking with a child or friend behind you, they can get caught up in your shadow. You have the ability to block the light from getting to them! Our spiritual lives mimic this unique event. The sins of the past are spread out behind us as we walk toward the Light of Christ. We must ensure that we don’t allow our children or friends to walk in our spiritual shadow. We must make every conscious effort to bring them around and allow them to walk in the Light alongside us!

As we draw closer to Christ through our relational walk, our love for Him will help us stop leaving a sin shadow behind us. In the world as we walk toward the sun, it also rises above us eventually to the noon hour. At that moment, we cast no shadow. We bask in the fullness of the sun on all sides and there is no shadow. Likewise, in our spiritual walk as we draw closer to Christ, He continues to rise up and have more and more influence in our lives. We continue to lift Him up and walk under His grace. The closer we get, the greater He becomes and our spiritual shadow dwindles. Someday, the Son will return. When He does we will have reached the noon hour. We will be without a shadow.

The great thing about all of this is that as long as we are walking toward the Son, He is always in front of us. Our shadow is always behind us. Our sins are forgiven the minute we accept Christ’s grace, but their shadow still lingers. Christ no longer sees those sins because He is in front of us. He has put that sin behind us. By the Son casting His revealing light into our lives, we can see where and how we are or were casting a shadow onto others around us. Forgiveness, repentance, and making amends will help the people that we have sinned against in the past come out from our shadow and walk in the full light of Christ, the SON!