Without the Glory

Recently we drove the Hope-Princeton highway on our way to visit my brother and his wife. 

The aspen trees are all in their spectacular golden glory at this time of year. 

 It was a beautiful blue-sky day and the sun delighted in kissing each leaf until it shone like polished gold.
I love color with all its shades of glory.  How deprived our world would be without the glory, leaving us only shades of grey.

We too rarely stop to think that color is not in the object ... it is in the light.  We need little proof to be convinced.  Turn off the light in a  room full of color and all that is left is grey shadow. Go for a walk at night and try to find evidence of color.  To turn a color photo into a black and white photo all that is needed is to remove the effect of light.
When you go to the paint store to buy paint, there is no color in your can of paint - the mixture merely contains the pigment formulated to absorb a specific color ray of light IF light is shone upon it.
Without going into the complete science of it ...
pure blue pigments absorb yellow light, pure yellow pigments absorb blue light,
pure green pigments absorb magenta light, pure magenta pigments absorb green light,
pure red pigments absorb cyan light and pure cyan pigments absorb red light.
Bottom line -- without light there is no color for any physical object to absorb or project.

 I  find the spiritual implications of this so profound.
God says He is light !  Without Him there is no color, there is no glory.
Isn't it amazing the many intricate ways God has revealed Himself in nature?  
God states clearly that all glory is His - Isaiah 48:11 records His words that He "will not give His glory to another!"  And so nature itself recognizes the Source of all Glory  - Light.
 In John 8:12, Jesus says ..."I am the Light of the world." and I John 1:5 leaves no doubt in repeating, "God is Light and in  Him is no darkness at all !"

Darkness - Why is there an inherent fear of the dark born into every soul?  Because we are created in the image of God, do we desire the Light knowing it is where we belong?
Have you ever wondered why sinful and wicked deeds seek the 'dark' ? Is it because they believe that there they can hide from God?
Shudder at the judgment coming to those who reject God and choose wickedness .."for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever."  It is one thing to think about a world without color, but it is another to imagine the 'blackness of darkness forever'.  Fear lurks and rules and terrifies where there is no light.   Why? because God is not in the darkness - the one in the dark is alone.
Fear is the absence of love,
darkness is the absence of God ...
'shades of grey' is the absence of Glory...

How amazing that God reveals His glory in holding the spectacular paint brush of light so that we can understand what God means when He says He will share His glory with no other.  There is no glory but the Glory of the One True God made visible on the 'things' He shines upon.
And we, humble man, were created for His glory, to absorb and reflect His glory in us and through us.
Do we have the right 'pigment' to absorb His glory, revealing it to those who pass our way?