John 8:12 (NIV)
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The world is a dark place, full of far more questions than answers, full of troubles and ills that seem to lash out at people when they least expect it, confusing them, hurting them, even causing death and destruction on levels from individual to nation-wide. This was NOT the way that God created the world or designed it to be.
When God created the world, everything He created was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). That means that it was just as he had planned it to be, and there was no death, no disease, no sin. Even in those places on earth where it was night, the light of His presence ensured that all was well.
But when the first man and woman used their freedom to rebel against God, their desire for freedom and autonomy from Him actually released darkness of soul and slavery to their own desires into their lives instead. Their desire for greater wisdom and knowledge produced instead a darkening of their minds and intellect, and the inability to see things objectively. Their quest for power apart from God unleashed sin and death on the whole world, horrors that they found themselves powerless to understand or control.
The world continued to spin on with darkness and death infecting and affecting everything. Until one day, when the time had fully come, God sent a brilliant light into the darkness: Jesus, His One and only Son. Born and raised in humble circumstances, He was nevertheless full of the light of heaven. His mind was not clouded by ignorance; He saw all things clearly, and was able to know far more than He saw. His heart was not darkened by sin; sin had no hold on Him, and He never succumbed to temptation, even as a child.
Throughout His life, especially during the last three years or so, His light shone with ever increasing intensity, even as the darkness in the hearts of His enemies tried to snuff it out. When He spoke, His words were light, and that light took root in the hearts of all who were willing to receive them. He brought the light of wholeness and healing into the lives of those who were afflicted with the darkness of sickness and disease. And of course, the light of His presence shattered the strongholds of demons, creatures of darkness, wherever He set foot.
Jesus was right in pointing out that only those who followed Him would be able to walk in the light while the rest of the world stumbled along in ever-increasing darkness. Only those who follow Him are truly born again, given a new, untarnished life, untainted and undarkened by sin. Only those who follow His teaching can have their ignorance, false biases, and prejudices blasted away by God’s pure, undiluted truth. And only those who follow Him can have the death that they had carried along in their own souls washed away by the rivers of living water that begin to flow through their lives when they put their faith completely in Him.
Father, thank You that these truths found their way into my heart more than three decades ago. Thank You for removing all the darkness of sin that threatened to completely overwhelm me, filling me instead with the glorious light of Your Spirit through the power of Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf. I will never be able to thank You enough for light, for life, for Your all-encompassing love. Amen.