Oh! I love color! Lots of color. Swathes of color. Glints of color. As I gaze into the jewelers’ case at the emeralds, rubies, sapphires, topazes, opals, and the pearls I nearly cry for the beauty of their colors. Sitting on the patio surveying the summer garden I reel, speechless at the glorious kaleidoscope of color. I experience a deep visceral reaction to color. Always have. I dream in color. I notice color. Color matters to me. So I am intrigued when I think about the spiritual component of color and light.

This morning I am looking out at a snow-white fairyland—several more inches of snow piled up overnight. The temperatures have remained below freezing for days. The result is a gorgeous ermine-robed world. The trees, fences and even, it seems, the houses, are gray and drab background to this pristine and shining display. When the sun comes out the whiteness nearly blinds us. What is happening with this addition of ‘light’? Technically, the whiteness of the snow is the outworking of the science of optics and light. When our eyes see what we call the color ‘white’ we are actually seeing every wave length of light bursting on our retinas. In contrast, when we see an object and give it a color name, say ‘red,’ what is happening is that that object is absorbing every wave length of light except those that give our retina and brain the color message we know as ‘red.’ So every color is there in that eye-watering brightness of the snowy white. How amazing!

Every season of the year has its own color palette. Spring announces its arrival with petticoats that flash pink, blue and gowns herself in every variety of green—especially that vivid chartreuse that screams “winter didn’t win! Creation is still alive!” Autumn spangles herself in outrageous robes of orange and eye-popping yellow with broaches and buttons, sashes and swags of vermilion and copper. Winter, in her hoary vesture, at the first careless glance makes us think “it’s just white.” But look closer and see that her voluminous gown and cape are subtle and exquisite swaths of lavender, periwinkle, and slate in every shadow and expanse. Summer outdoes them all with her fiesta bright floral skirts flung with shameless abandon across the carpets of rich green. Saucy magenta, lemon, scarlet, azure and turquoise all splash across her harlequin caparison.

And then there are human faces with colors so varied they defy the categories we have foolishly limited to ‘white,’ ‘black,’ ‘yellow,’ ‘brown.’ How utterly untrue and so limited! Every face has its own unique hue: ebony, amber, alabaster, saffron, coral, rose, fawn, ecru, and russet.

Pondering this incredible array of color and the amazing processes that are involved in how we perceive color, I realize that there is an astonishing aspect of truth in what Jesus says when He declares “I am the Light of the world.”

Jesus—being Lord God Almighty—is indeed true light. Yes, the context is spiritual, but the unmistakable correlation to light and color as we know it is inescapable. Jesus—God Himself—enlightens all that is “real.”  All creation’s vastness is explained and displayed because He, the infinitely vast One, is the “reveal-er.”

Close your eyes and imagine a sunny, blue-sky day. Now think what happens when the day winds down to twilight and sinks into the black of night. Those golden sunflowers along the fence, the sapphire delphinium leaning on their supports, the crimson roses nodding on their thorny branches all begin to lose their lovely hues. As the light fades every object becomes more and more gray. They all blend into an indistinguishable mass of dun and finally disappear altogether in the darkness of night. No light, no color.

The correlation in the spiritual realm is vivid. Jesus, the Light of the world, gives color to every aspect of life.  As the Creator, He is the cause of all the light we see and hence all the color we encounter. And spiritually, when we experience the amazing reality of our sin being forgiven and removed by His death in our place, our entire outlook changes. Our spiritual eyes are opened in new life as we awake from the spiritual death of sin. In comes a flood of love, joy, and hope, all as our world no longer is dark and dead, but rather lighted by Jesus and His glorious, radiant holiness. It is no accident that God used the rainbow—that awe-filled arc of every color–to promise His own that they will not be destroyed in His judgement of sin.

QUESTION: Are you “seeing” life in living color or are you trapped in spiritual darkness?

CHALLENGE: Step out of the darkness of sin into the glorious, colorful light of Jesus. Admit your sin. As God to forgive you because Jesus died in your place. Then bask in His light.

“…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation….The Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” Romans 10:9,10, 12,13