2 Cor. 4-5 CSB
But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 4:3-7
We arrive at my favorite book and one of the best passages in the book. I can’t read it once without wanting to read it again and again and unlock the extraordinary truths expressed in such eloquent language. You see I can remember when the “god of this age” had blinded my mind as an unbeliever. I remember times when I came close to the truth, (a revival service in a little Baptist church… or random words on the lips of a believer), but I wasn’t quite able to grasp the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” I knew something was there, but somehow it was hidden from me and so I would go on again blindly for years until I would catch another glimmer of light that appeared for a split second and then vanished into the ether.
Until one day, like scales falling from my eyes, the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” pierced the inner reaches of my darkened heart with His light. That light was the gospel of Jesus Christ; I finally understood who I was, who Jesus was, what He did, and what I needed. The light that shone in my heart was the “light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.” Read that last sentence two or three times and let that language seep into your mind; “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.” It takes a while for it to really make sense, but once it does you realize there are no better words to express what God does in the inner reaches of a lost heart.
Once the light of His gospel is truly revealed to you, and you respond to Him, something significant takes place. Suddenly that light is there to stay inside you and shine forever. Everything else in this world pales by comparison to that light. Paul goes on to say that in comparison to that light, your earthly body is just a common vessel; a jar of clay. Now what matters is not the container that the light dwells in but the treasure of the light itself. This light of the knowledge of the glory of God becomes the thing that you value most and it becomes the driving force of your life. Now you exist to share that light with others. Now that light drives you to go places you have never been, do things you never dreamed you would do and take that light to a world that dwells in continual darkness. Nothing else matters; not life or death, sickness or health, suffering, or prosperity… only “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” It is the one thing that is real about me and it is the one thing that I want everyone to see.
