Saturday, July 5, 2014

Light in the Darkness

UV 1038/10,000 Light in the Darkness

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8 v 12

Scripture records that in the beginning, the earth was formless, empty and dark. God’s words “ let there be light,” produced light. Similarly, our lives before we believed and received Jesus were formless, shapeless, empty, dark, void of meaning and purpose, devoid of power. It is the light of the Word that makes us the light of the world.

It takes only one bulb to light up a whole dark room. It took one person- Jesus to light up the whole world that lived in darkness, not knowing the clear answers to the questions: where did we come from, what are we to do, what is right and wrong and where are we going? Jesus revealed that we belong to the Father in Heaven. He has breathed His spirit into us, bringing us to life. We are to live the abundant, eternal life in intimacy with God. His Word reveals what is right and what is wrong. He promises to take us back to God to live for eternity. Jesus has thrown light on the question of our origin, identity, calling, basis of our morality and our destiny. We can no longer live ignorant of these truths but walk in the light, energised by these truths.







Knowledge of our origin and identity gives us a sense of power. Knowledge of the calling God has set before us gives us a sense of power. Knowledge of what is right and wrong gives us character. Knowledge of the finished work of Christ gives us absolution and forgiveness for our shortcomings in meeting the standards of God. Knowledge of our destiny gives us a sense of hope. Our strength is derived from the fact that we are thankful for our past, joyful in the present and hopeful for the future.

We have no excuse to walk in the dark. We cannot say- we do not know about our past, present or future. We need to dwell on the words of life that Jesus spoke. To dwell means to live within the boundaries of the Word. To dwell on also means that the Word of Jesus should stay in our minds continually. To dwell on implies that we should consume or meditate on the Word till it becomes part and parcel of our flesh and blood. It means we should trust and depend on the promises of God. The filament of a bulb heats up and burns to produce light. Similarly, we heat up as we dwell on the Word and we produce light to drive away and dispel the darkness.
Darkness-Light relationship is similar to the relationship between Ignorance-Knowledge, Problems-Solutions, Questions-Answers, Evil-Good. When we believe and receive Jesus, we move from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, from problems to solutions, from questions to answers and from evil to good. Jesus found solutions to the world’s problems of sin, suffering, disease, scarcity, hatred, conflict and violence. We too need to follow Him to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Prateep V Philip

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