And Let There Be Light... Again

by Keith Gardner

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. –Gen. 1:1-3

Before there was anything there was God. God transcends time, space, matter, consciousness, knowing, thinking and creating. If God was in the beginning before there was anything else then nothing else is as important as God. God is all that matters. If God is all that matters why do we spend some much of our time chasing after so many other things besides God? The other things are a distraction from what is really important.

The first thing God did was to survey the vast emptiness of the deep. He found nothingness and darkness. This darkness was more than just the absence of light; it was also a place absent of any real purpose or meaning.

God’s response to his findings was to remedy the “real” problem. He brought clarity and illumination to the vast waste of nothingness. The second note of great importance was his creation, the result of a spoken word – “Let there be….”

In St. John, chapter 1 we discover that again after God surveyed the vast dark nothingness of our soul’s condition he again sent light; this time in the form of himself through his son Jesus Christ.  The illumination of our soul reveals our absence of any real worth. There is nothing of any value; nothing of any usefulness. Nevertheless, in that great love that gave birth to the original creation, the God of all that is and ever will be, has again shone brightly. By the power of his word he has empted us of our nothingness creating in us something brand new. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! -2 Cor. 5:17