In the children’s book Charlotte’s Web, a spider tries to save the life of a pig named Wilbur by writing descriptive words about him in her web. One of the words she uses to describe the pig is “radiant” – which no one except for the devious rat Templeton seems to have a problem with. A radiant pig? Why not. The definition of the word radiant from Merriam Webster has to do with radiating rays or reflecting beams of light, being vividly bright and shining. We all know this does not describe a pig. But does it describe you, and does it describe me? If you have come to a place of true saving faith in Christ, then radiant is exactly what you are (whether you feel like it or not!). Psalm 34:4-5 allows me to say that with confidence. “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.”
I laid awake in bed last night recounting the events of the day. It was one of “those days”. Unfortunately for my children, my bad days are their bad days. Simple, innocent requests were shot down; frustration came quick, patience left just as fast and even though it was just an ordinary day, I felt constantly overwhelmed. It didn’t seem so bad as it was happening, but looking back at the sum total of the day, I felt ashamed at how I had treated my precious children. I asked for their forgiveness several times throughout the day, but that night, it all left me feeling heavy with heartbreaking pain, and full of regret. The only way out of that guilt was for me was to imagine and hope to do it a better way next time. But is that the best that the Gospel can do? Is that really what Jesus has saved us to? Sin, feel bad, try harder next time? Isn’t that what we did without Jesus? You see, that sin/feel bad cycle has a problem, and the problem is that it’s centered around ME. What I was forgetting in my moment of regret is the truth that Jesus died for all the ways I was short with my kids that day. Jesus was crushed by His Father for all the ways that I crushed their little spirits. He paid for it all, and even though these things had just happened, they were long ago thrown into the depths of the deepest ocean, taken as far away from me as the east is from the west. He was not only punished for my sins, but He was raised to life for my justification. I know this and I believe it, but connecting these truths to a level so deep and real that it changes me at the level of my feelings is not easy. [Those who look to him are radiant]. The radiance isn’t mine, it comes to me by looking at Him. I have read that verse many times and never noticed that my part in this process is simply looking at Him. It makes sense though, doesn’t it? We’re like the glow-in-the-dark stars that I bought for our daughter’s room. If I had kept those stars in the package and never exposed them to any light, they wouldn’t glow. The more the stars are exposed to the light, the brighter they glow. When people saw the disciples, they knew they had been with Jesus. When Moses came down from the mountain after meeting with God, he glowed so bright he needed a veil to cover his face (Exodus 34). We don’t chase radiance for radiance itself, I believe it gets transferred to us as a byproduct of spending time with Jesus. As we look at Him, and as we behold Him (2 Corinthians 3:18), we are transformed into His image. The more time we spend with Him, the more we know Him, the more we love Him, the more we become like Him and the more we want to be like Him.
In the aftermath of my bad day, I looked at myself, and I felt very ashamed. It’s grace that reveals my sin, and grace doesn’t want to leave me ashamed. Grace works with me and changes me as I see the error of my ways and turn back to Christ again and again. So instead of sin, feel bad, try harder – it looks more like sin, grieve, repent, look and live.
The pig stood underneath the web that read “Radiant” and he held his head high. When we stand underneath our Savior those beams of His glory will inevitably land on us. We look to Him, and we keep on looking and in that miraculous process, He makes us radiant. Implicitly.