All is Bright: Black

All is Bright: Black

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible.

This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.

Don’t act thoughtlessly but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:8-20 (NLT)

When we think of life with no light, we often imagine darkness or blackness. Within scripture and culture, we often see that darkness as the problem or failure. We often fail to see the Creator’s purpose behind His creation. Today, we are wearing black to demonstrate something powerful within God’s creation.

Black is the inclusivity of all colors. The combination of which absorbs all reflection, producing a hue known as black. If a painter were to combine all the basic colors available on their palette, they would have the color black. Simply put, all the colors would still be there…they would just be completely unified.

A couple of questions: Is God’s way perfect? Is His work perfect? Is His creation good? OK, then let’s understand that HE CREATED Darkness and Light. He began His creative process with the availability of EVERYTHING and He drew out colors and beauty by introducing light.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. Genesis 1:1-5 (NLT)

But wait!

Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19 (NLT)

Now hold on a minute! Are you saying that there was light before there was a sun? Yep! I believe God took out His paints (watercolors) and He drew out of His palette all the colors and shades that represent creation by the light of His son!

A. Black Marks the :

In other words, blackness/darkness is where we all begin, but light is the gift of the son of God.

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John 1:1-14 (NLT)

In art and color science, “black” is often a mixture of multiple pigments or dyes, which absorb a wide range of visible light.

B. Black is Transformed by

Separation of Colors: If black is a mixture of pigments (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, and sometimes black in printing), you can extract the component colors.

Example:

Chromatography can separate the pigments in black ink or paint, revealing the underlying colors.

Also, Spectroscopy can separate light into its’ varying shades of color like a prism.

When the light of God shone in our world, the beauty of creation was revealed!
And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:9-11 (NLT)

C. Black the Light:

When we allow the light of God’s love through Jesus into our lives, He takes up residence and the light dwells within, shining through with identity, purpose, and love!

You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 (NLT)

Today, we celebrate the gift of light coming into humanity through Jesus! The precious son of God whose sacrifice takes away our sin and makes us light to our world!

Do you know Him?

All of this talk of light and black is exposing you to the concept that we are all perfect conduits/recipients of His light and love and grace! Will you let His light shine through you?

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you the Lord’s death until he comes. I Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV)

PROCLAIM: The word “proclaim” is a verb that means to announce, declare, or make known publicly and officially.

Let’s brilliantly frame Him! Let’s make sure no one forgets what this time of the year signifies to us because we make sure to tell how His life illumined ours! This is Christmas: The day we honor the birth, life and sacrifice of our King!

We bless you with the knowledge that our God reigns! He reigns in our world, the United States, North Carolina, Forsyth County, and our beloved Winston-Salem. May His kingdom come and will be done in your home, among your family and in your hearts. The blessing of His presence will overshadow you in all you endeavor. Your lives will overflow with the prosperity of His goodness and mercy as you serve our King! May eternal joy and peace be yours both now and forever amen: