Light Tubes

Light tubes.

That's what God is looking for, people who are willing to become light tubes.

A light tube has no means of generating light of itself. However, unlike a normal pipe or other less useful channel or conduit in relation to light, a light tube is specially designed to convey light through some obstruction that normally blocks light from entering a dark place, usually a roof.

A good light tube consists of an inlet, normally a transparent cover on a roof allowing light to enter the tube, an outlet on the bottom side consisting of another cover, often a diffuser that softens and spreads out the light, and in between a highly reflective tube that has a surface that absorbs almost no light at all. Its surface is like a mirror and bounces the light around in the tube that allows an intensity to be passed through it that rivals a bright, powered source of light yet requires no power to operate it. The only thing a light tube needs is access to the light from outside.

Our world has been shrouded with what might be called a mantle of darkness ever since sin entered through Adam's sin. God's glory and light has been largely blocked, obscured from entering our lives because of the myriads of lies about Him that infect our atmosphere. This mantle of darkness has increased over the centuries as falsehoods and traditions become more institutionalized and are woven into every culture and system.

Such was the case at the time Jesus was born. This earth had become so intensely dark from misapprehension of God that heavenly beings had begun to expect God might scrap the whole planet in severe judgments on it similar to what apparently had happened at the flood. But to everyone's amazement God instead sent His personal envoy, His only Son, on a mission to this planet to pierce through the heavy mantle of ignorance and fear and lies for the purpose of bringing the light of truth about God back into close proximity to humanity.

Jesus is the ultimate light tube for God. But interestingly, even though Jesus was Himself God and could have acted as an original, powered Source of light, He chose to live as only a reflector while here as a human in order to demonstrate how we can emulate His example of how we too can become light tubes for heaven. Jesus came to perfectly reflect the glory and beauty of God as the clearest reflection of how God feels towards sinners. He came to show us that God is not one to be afraid of but is one to be a friend of. He demonstrated that God is not out to harm His children, not trying to uncover their faults to bring more shame on them, rather He desires to repair their horrible pictures and conceptions of Him that have kept them firmly locked in darkness and fear behind the veil of misapprehensions about Him for so long.

But Jesus is not the only light tube needed for this world. Jesus wants everyone who is coming to glimpse the light of truth about God to also be formed into light tubes. This forming is sometimes referred to as re-forming or reformation. That word has taken on dark meanings of its own as Satan has linked it with fanatics who claim to be reformers while failing to reflect the beauty of God through their lives. But true reformation is simply the restoration of the light and beauty and joy that humans were originally intended to reflect at creation. Reformation is the process of being re-formed into the image of God. An image is a reflection just as what you see in a mirror is an image of what is real in front of that mirror.

A light tube works in the same way. Its highly polished reflective surface reflects light in such as way as to pass it through obstacles that tend to keep areas in darkness. The purpose of a good light tube is not to absorb light but to reflect it and bring brightness and cheer to others living in darkness and gloom. A genuine Christian is a person who is being polished by the providences of God to more and more reflect His glory, His loveliness, His kindness, His grace to a world that doesn't believe God is that way.

I see this world like a great round planet with a dark mantle wrapped tightly around it composed of lies, fears, shame, violence, force and all the other counterfeit elements of Satan's kingdom that distort our concepts of God and keep us afraid of Him. God is seeking to invite all those who choose to cooperate with Him to be transformed into light tubes that punch through this dark covering and connect with the brilliant light on the other side. As such a person continues to press through the darkness to connect and connect again each day with the glory outside this world, they become sources of a light that passes through their lives to the diffusers on this side of the dark covering. With more and more people willing to be made little channels of light the sky begins to glow with points of light, little holes through the obstructions, that allows the world to realize that darkness is not the norm.

Have you ever taken a piece of paper and punched a very small hole in it and then tried to see how much you could make out looking through that hole of what was on the other side? You can't see much at all, but if you move your head around and allow you mind to collect the tiny glimpses of what you see and compile them you might get a little better idea of what may be over there.

Then you go to the next step and punch a few more holes in the paper or cardboard. Now it becomes a little easier to make out what might be on the other side. Its sort of like the keyhole syndrome. You can't really get a good idea of what is in a room by only looking through a tiny keyhole. But if you have more holes nearby it becomes easier to grasp a bigger picture, especially if you try to move your head around a bit to collect even more information.

Interestingly, as God attracts more and more people to reflect His glory and become light tubes for Him, others will begin to catch a clearer picture from the collective light from various tubes and begin to realize how much greater life is in the other reality. People begin to realize that life as we have learned it on this planet is not at all what it is intended to be and everything we have assumed about reality is riddled with falsehoods. As more and more people allow their lives to become points of light in the heavy darkness surrounding God's reputation, His light become irrepressible and all those who are honest in heart will respond and join in the revolution of light and love.

The apostle John grasped this concept and became himself a very effective light tube for God. He talked a great deal about the light of God and how Jesus referred to Himself as the light of the world. He also described how each of us can become channels of light if we will become connected with heaven and be transformed into highly reflective mediums to dispel the darkness of misapprehensions about God. All of the apostles and believers in the early days of the Christian church really understood this much better than most do today, and they lived lives that were so brilliantly reflective of God's grace, goodness and love that the world became flooded with the light of God's glory.

Satan reacted violently to repress the light and succeeded in plunging the world and religion into hundreds of years of deep darkness and misapprehension again. But God is still raising up an army of hole punchers that refuse to dwell in the shadowlands but determine to bring the light of God once again onto this planet. Each of us are offered the privilege of becoming light tubes through which God's true glory and grace can be channeled to those living in great darkness. What is our choice?