Polar Opposites

"Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light.

And God saw that the light was good;

And God separated the light from the darkness."

Genesis 1:3-4

I am doing Bible Study Fellowship this year and we are studying the book of Genesis.

When you feel small, inadequate or insignificant - Can I suggest reading the first 2 chapters of Genesis?  It is a definite perspective changer!  The God of Creation - the God who ordained time, space, seasons, and every creature that exists - He saved his most prized possession for the very last of his creations: mankind.  The world was incomplete without us.  He longs for us more than we know.  More than we can comprehend ...

And certainly more than we believe.

In studying Genesis, I have been particularly drawn to learn more about the vast difference between light and darkness.  

My husband and I are very different.  For example, he is very good at reason.  I tend to think with emotion first, reason later.  He is very good at math [like he understands fractions and percentages and weird stuff, like formulas].  I left my x's and y's way back in my freshman year of college and am still confused about what in the world the point of all that was.  He loves sports.  I had to have the definition of 'punt' explained to me after the last football game.  He is good with detail.  I am a big-picture person.  He tends to have an idea and run with it.  I go back and forth [and back and forth] debating whether it's a good idea before I take the leap.  He thinks in his head.  I think out loud.    

Despite our many differences, there are also many things we have in common.  And there are also things that I can make an effort to have in common with him.  Like sports, for example.  I really could learn more, sit through more games, and maybe eventually even love sports on the level he does.

But light and darkness ... That is a different story.  

They are completely different.  Polar opposites.

"And God separated the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night."

(Gen 1:4-5)

God produced a separation between light and darkness at the creation of the world.  He did this by creating the light.  On day 1, God distinguished the difference between day and night. 

"Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens

to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs,

and for seasons, and for days and years;

And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens 

to give light on the earth'; and it was so.

And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day,

and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also."

(Genesis 1:14-16)

God made certain that even in darkness, light would be present.  On day 4, He created the stars, moon and sun to illuminate the darkness.  

I have been able to glean great application from the above Scripture passages.  I am all the more convinced that you and I, as believers in Jesus, are meant to look vastly different than the world around us.  The parallel between the introduction of light into a dark world at the beginning of Creation and the calling we have as believers today to go and be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), is no coincidence.

We have to stand out; however, standing out cannot be our goal.  Our motivation for all that we do must be to bring glory and attention to our Savior.  Out of the outpouring of our love for Him and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, there should be things about our lives that are in turn distinguishably different.  Agreed?     

                     We are a CHOSEN RACE ... 

a royal priesthood ...

A HOLY NATION ...

a people for God's own possession ...

THAT YOU MAY PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES OF HIM

WHO HAS CALLED YOU ...

out of darkness into

HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT! 1 Peter 2:9

So what about you? Are you blending in??  Or are you shining brightly?  In what ways do you look different?  And in what areas do you not look different? For real: name them.  This is a good practice for us.  And this is not about being self-righteous.  It is about living within our calling.  It is about making sure we are following through in obedience and that pleasing Him - not the world - is our goal, our pleasure, the desire of our hearts.

Are we fully aware that our Creator God had vastly different in mind for us?

"So that you may become blameless and pure, 

'children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.'

Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you 

hold firmly to the word of life."

(Philippians 2:14-16a)

We were meant to resemble the stars, y'all!  What a beautiful and thrilling a picture that is!  

We have been ordained, called, chosen, 

to be completely opposite than an unbelieving world.

Polar opposites.