We Friends believe the Light of God is in every person of every faith, and even present in those people who profess no faith.  God’s presence in us has nothing to do with anything we’ve done.  It isn’t something we’ve earned.  God’s presence in us isn’t something we’ve achieved because we’ve followed a certain ritual or believed a particular doctrine. 

Now we might think that some people, because of their behavior, don’t have God’s Presence in them.  I would be the first to say that some people seem more aware of God’s Presence in them, that they tend the Light of God in them more tenderly and conscientiously than someone else might.  But even those people who ignore God’s Presence in them are just as loved, just as cherished, just as prized as the most devout saint.  Because the Light of God within us is never extinguished, and there is always hope that even the most immoral people can grow in their awareness of God’s Presence and live in the reality of God’s Presence more fully.

Philip Gulley, Grace Talk Messages

www.philipgulley.org