Ambient Light

When beginning this blog I feel that I should stat with why I chose Ambient Light as the title for this.
It is interesting, the name ambient light is a term I have used for several years. I have even named my business Ambient Light, but as funny as it sounds I have never really understood why. I guess it sounded cool but I could never figure out why I liked this name so much. It has only come in the last couple of days that I have been able to figure out why I like this name so much. Ambient light is really about God’s mission for our lives today.
Ambient
- Adjective
1. Of the surrounding area or environment.
The temperature in the display case was twenty degrees lower than the ambient temperature
2. Completely surrounding
When I think of something that is ambient it is something that completely surrounds you, whether it is temperature, light, darkness, or even smell. When something is ambient it completely surrounds you and there is no getting away from it.
The definition of Light is pretty obvious, there is light or there is darkness. The interesting thing about darkness is that darkness is the absence of light. The other thing about light is that light always casts shadows. Realistically there isn't anywhere you can go where you will not be affected by shadows and darkness. Even if you where to stand in a room full of spot lights there would still be shadows under your feet, you just wouldn’t be able to see them. There are always elements of darkness in this world, and the darkness is good at hiding. As people there is part of us that will always like the darkness and shadows. We all live in darkness until we are exposed to the light. When we are exposed to the light it is hard to go back to the darkness. We may retreat into the darkness out of fear or stubbornness, or lack of caring, but once we are exposed to the light we are never the same again. Once we see the light it is hard to go back to the darkness and be content with that. Once we have felt the warmth of the light and have our eyes opened we are forever changed.
When I think of what ambient light really is, it is a light that completely surrounds us. This is a light that shines on every part of us. This light exposes all the darkness that is on us or in us, even in the places that no one would think to look. All of our flaws and imperfections are brought into the light. We are left naked and exposed with nothing but the light.
This light however is not an impersonal blinding light. It is a warm light. When I think of this light I think of what it is like to bask in the spring sun, after being in the winter clouds and rain for so long, to step out into the sun and just soak in its warmth and radiance. It fills my soul and puts life into my being. This light does not expose our darkness so that we might be embarrassed, but this light exposes our darkness to fill those places. When we are exposed to this ambient light, it fills all the dark spaces of our life and soul so that there is no room for the darkness. When we are in this ambient light we are complete and lack nothing.
This is exactly the author of the book of John is saying in John 1:4 “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it”. The key idea is that the light is the one who gives life. We are given life by the light’s ability to shine until there is no more darkness. Now an entire book could just be written on this concept but what I think is important is that Jesus Christ is the light that brings life aka salvation to all men. Jesus’ light is not a condemning light but a light that brings life to us by filling all the dark spaces with his light so that we might have eternal life with him and have a full life here on this earth. Jesus is this ambient light that surrounds us till there is nothing but him. What we have to do is we need to stop hiding in the darkness and step out into and embrace Christ’s light. Now this is obviously easier said than done, but without the light we are all stumbling around in the darkness completely and utterly lost with no way out. This is where God’s mission for us comes in.
We are to first let the light shine into our own lives. Second we are now modern day John the Baptist. John 1:7-8 “He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” We are now the witnesses pointing others to the light. We are reflections of the light for others, so that other might be able to see, believe, and inherit eternal life.
I believe that this is part of what it means to be apart of God’s mission. We need to live by embracing the ambient light that is Jesus Christ and we need to reflect this light to others. We need to let our light shine for all to see. We need to spread the warmth of the love of God so that all may come out of the darkness into the light. We are not a light that is to judge others by pointing out all their sins, that is God’s job. We are pointing others to the way of the true light.
When we partake in God’s mission for humanity and become reflections of ambient light for others we are fulfilling God’s mission for our lives. God’s mission for humanity goes beyond this but this is a central ideal. This is God’s mission for us. We are to be reflecting the nature of Jesus by being ambient light to this world pointing others to the true light that can and will lead them out of the darkness in which they are so desperately lost. I want my life to be a life that is basking in the light and warmth of Jesus Christ and then to point others to that same light which I would be so desperately lost without.