The Colorful Son

"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power..." Heb. 1:3 Do you want to know God? What He's like, how He thinks, what He can do? Then look at the Son. We don't have to wonder or guess--we can know, for He has unequivocally and eternally revealed Himself in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Really contemplate that--we can see and know the Creator and Sustainer of the universe! He who with a breath created the distant stars and planets, He who has infinite power and glory and wisdom, He who holds all these solar systems and universes in place, wants us to know Him and love Him and be in a love relationship with Him. How often we take this stupendous fact for granted! Forgive me Lord!

"He is the radiance of the glory of God"--I couldn't help but think of brilliantly colored stained glass windows, flinging their deep blues and crimsons and violets across the walls and floors of churches. Steve Green had a song with the lines: "We are like windows, stained with colors of the rainbow. Set in a darkened room till the Bridegroom comes to shine through. Then the colors fall around our feet over those we meet coloring all the grey that we see. Rainbow colors of the Risen Son reflect the One who came to set us all free." Isn't that just what the Lord Jesus does in our lives? He makes that which is grey and lifeless and dull into that which is full of life and joy and meaning. It may not be easy, but with the Savior, it is always an adventure!

How grey and dull I am when I get so full of myself and my circumstances and my agenda. I forfeit perspective and joy and peace, and life becomes a grind. But when I allow the Son/Sun to flow through me, He splashes His colorful life, not just through me, but all over those around me. His splashes of color are reflections of that "radiance of the glory of God" that brings hope to the hopeless, peace to the frightened, and joy to the despairing. Every time we choose to turn to Him, seek Him in His Word, worship Him, rather than give in to our feelings of discouragement or anxiety or selfishness, then we inevitably find Him transforming our grey into His multicolors. But the amazing thing is that He gives us the privilege of spreading His color to the world around us. When we allow ourselves to be His pure vessels, we truly are those stained glass windows that reflect the radiance of the glory of the Savior within us. It's not us--it's all about Him. But we have to allow Him to shine through us.

I heard the other day about a story from 9-11. Late in the day after the attacks, a number of rescue workers had gathered at Trinity Church, a church located very near Ground Zero. Stunned, grieving, struggling, a couple of firefighters decided to hose off the church which was covered with the ubiquitous grey ash from the fallen towers that seemed to cover every surface within blocks of the twin towers. The firefighter said as soon as they hosed off the church, the many colors of the stained glass windows were suddenly revealed--it was the first time any of them had seen color that whole long horrific day. It was as if hope began rising, and the workers began praying and worshipping. "God revealed himself," the firefighter declared.

You know, He was there along. He was in the ash and the fires and the falling towers and the burning planes. He was in the grey rubble and the ash covered workers. But sometimes we can't see Him... sometimes in life, all we can see is the grey, the rubble, the chaos. But when we clean the windows of our lives and allow the Son to shine through, His radiant colorful glory splashes all around us, all over our families and friends and world.

O how I want to be a vessel of His radiance! How I pray that I will continually clean off the ash of my sin and selfishness and pride and seek Him, worship Him, and thereby reflect Him. It makes me want to cry at how often I fail to splash His color on those around me. Forgive me, Lord Jesus. Cleanse me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation that I might reflect anew the glorious, radiant Savior to a lost and dying world. Might You splash your radiant rainbow colors through us and all around us. And to God be the glory.