Sunshine in My Soul

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6)

God has illuminated our hearts with the knowledge of His glory, revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our guiding light. He has given us sunshine in our souls. God desires to provide for our total well-being—spiritually, physically, and materially (3 John 2).

Mental and emotional as well as physical health are of major concern in our stressful world. As science and technology advance, we learn more about the complex interaction among the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical aspects of life. When we do everything with gladness and moderation, then our body, mind and soul will naturally feel at ease and peaceful.

“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” (Prov 15:13)

A broken, depressed spirit may be attributed to many things: gossip, strife, dispute, provocation, criticism, rejection, prejudice, conceit, envy, anxiety, stress, etc. These could inflict invisible wounds on us. So, if we are suffering grief and brokenness, how can we have a merry heart? The apostle Paul admonishes us to trust God even in the midst of affliction and to consciously dwell on what is good in the person or situation (Phil 4:6–9). We should not give in into sadness or desperation for what we are going through. God knows how we feel. He knows exactly what is happening to us in our life at this moment. He wants to show us things that only we can understand by living what we are living, and by being in the place we are now.

God is the healer of the heart. Matthew 6:22 reads, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” The lamp is the inner light, which means that our heart is filled with the light of the Holy Spirit. In Christ, we can have sunshine in our souls regardless of the circumstances; for Jesus is our light. As the fourth stanza of the hymn Sunshine in My Soul states,
“There is gladness in my soul today, and hope and praise and love
for blessings which He gives me now, for joys laid up above.
O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul.”

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