Drawn to the True Light
This communion meditation compares the deadly attraction of a bug zapper with the life-giving pull of Christ, the true Light of the world. It reflects on how sin promises satisfaction but leads to death, while Christ crucifies the old self and raises believers to new life.
- Lesser lights may attract us, but they ultimately leave us empty and broken.
- Christ, the true Light, does not destroy us but transforms us through his death and resurrection.
- The bread and cup remind us that the old self is crucified and the new self lives in Christ.
By Quentin Davis
Imagine a warm summer evening. Out in the darkness, a bug zapper hums softly, its purple-blue light glowing bright against the night. Bugsโmoths, flies, beetlesโcircle and flutter in the shadows, drawn irresistibly to that radiance. They don’t know why; they simply feel the pull. The light promises something beautiful, something life-giving. So they come closer … and closer … untilโzap!โa flash, a crackle, and they’re gone.
We chuckle at the bugs sometimes, don’t we? Foolish creatures, seduced by a deadly glow. But if we’re honest, we recognize ourselves in them more than we’d like to admit.
Drawn to the Light
We too are drawn to light. Not just any light, but the true Lightโthe One who said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). From the moment we’re born, something inside us hungers for meaning, for love, for purpose. We chase after lesser lights: success, pleasure, approval, control. They flicker brightly and pull us in. We fly toward them, convinced this time it will satisfy.
But those lights eventually zap us tooโnot always in dramatic flashes, but in quiet ways that leave us empty, burned, broken. Sin’s attraction ends in death, just as Scripture warns: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Yet the story doesn’t end with destruction.
Crucified and Raised with Christ
When we are drawn to Christโthe real Lightโwe discover something astonishing. Yes, there is a “zap,” a decisive encounter. But it is not a zap to kill us. It is a zap to crucify the old self and raise us to new life.
Paul puts it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20, New International Version). The old bugโthe self-centered, wandering, sin-chasing creatureโis zapped, put to death on the cross with Jesus. But out of that death comes resurrection. We are not vaporized; we are transformed. The Light that once seemed dangerous now becomes our life. We are zapped to liveโto live a new life in Christ, free, forgiven, and forever drawn to the One who first loved us.
Remember at the Table
Look at the bread before you. This is his body, broken for usโthe place where our old life was crucified and the power of sin was shattered.
Look at the cup. This is his blood, poured outโthe life given so that we might receive his life in return.
As you take these elements today, remember: we were drawn to the Light, and yes, we were zapped. But praise God, it was not to our destructionโit was to our rebirth.
Come, then. Let the old self be crucified once more in remembrance. And let the new self rise to walk in the light of his presence, alive forever in Christ.
Author: Quentin Davis
Quentin Davis is a financial planner with WealthWise Financial Group and the associate minister at New Burlington Church of Christ in Cincinnati, Ohio.
