The Moonlight Assassin

Devotion

The next day, Miguel woke up from his sleep. It was half past five in the morning. "It's too early," Miguel thought. The sun wasn't up just yet. But something came up in his mind: "Why not read the Bible?" It was a thought that lingered in him since he went to All Nations Church the day before.

Miguel did not have a physical copy of The Bible then. All he heard about the Word of God was through gospel readings in their cathedral in Sitio San Roque. Back then growing up, being able to know and understand God's Word was through memorization and listening to priests mentioning passages, yet those things never lingered in his mind. But he remembered what his girlfriend Tabby does on her phone. She had the Bible app on it and there she reads verses from there. So he thought of downloading that app, not only on his phone but on his tablet as well.

As he opened the Bible app, he is greeted by the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1. 

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." - Genesis 1:1-5 NIV

Curiosity came in for Miguel. He was hooked by these two contrasting words: "light" and "darkness". He wondered how did God create something out of nothing, from something without form to something with form. He wondered, "Why there is light in the first place? Was it for me to become evil? Was it for me to be worried about certain things? Was light meant to be against me?"

In the condominium unit, Tabitha woke up from her beauty rest and saw the sun peeking through the horizon. She thought, why not appreciate the light through reading today's passage? There she cleared up her table and placed her Bible and her devotional notebook on her office desk. She places a bookmark on her Bible every time she does her readings, as she wants to keep track of her progress in reading the book chapter by chapter. That day, the bookmark was placed on the page where Ephesians 5 was located.

Meanwhile, Miguel, curious about how "light" and "darkness" are mentioned equally in the Bible, put the phrase "light and darkness" in the search bar in the Bible app. Immediately, the application displayed numerous verses. But what came out first was Ephesians 5:8. He tapped on that verse and immediately these words came to his eyes:

"For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!" (NLT)

Even more curious, Miguel tapped the "Read full chapter" button.

At that same moment, Tabby got ready to read aloud the passage from her Bible.

Together, Miguel and Tabby spoke these words:

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don't participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true." - Ephesians 5:1-9 (NLT)

Miguel immediately was brought to tears. All of the sins that were mentioned in the passage reminded him of what he had done in his young life. His immoral sexual encounters with women in Sitio San Roque, his impurity, greed for money, obscenity, coarseness, and foolishness with friends, were things that he had committed. He began to make sense of what being right in the eyes of God looks like. 

Meanwhile, Tabitha was able to be in a mood for prayer as she was thankful to God for delivering her from these impure things. Now she wanted to offer a prayer for her to become a person of light:

"Father, thank you for reminding me to be thankful for all You have done for us, including giving us Your Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver us from our sins. I ask You now to guide me to become a person of light, one who can shine in the darkness, and carry what is good and right and true to all people. All this I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

Miguel also prayed to the Father as he realized he needs to be a person of light as well.

"Father, thank you for this opportunity to come to You, to forgive me of the sins that I have done in the past. Thank You that You sent Your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross as a payment for my sins. Cleanse me, renew me, and restore me, as I commit myself to read Your Word, serve Your church, and love Your people. Make me a person of light who can shine in the darkness, and become good, right, and true to You and to others. All this I ask in Jesus' name. Amen."

On the other side, Alexander, watching from Miguel's mind, was able to pick up the prayer. He was totally convicted of wrongdoing too. "This man wants to change, too," he thought.