Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I love the creation story. Looking at the world with nothing existing, the Spirit hovering over the waters. All of a sudden the voice of God booms, "Let there be light." Suddenly brilliant rays of light illuminate all throughout the darkness. This is how it all starts.
Then you jump forward thousands of years. There's a new teacher on the scene. He's gaining popularity fast—some for good reasons, some for not so good reasons. He's teaching powerful messages with authority. He's dining with sinners. He's turning religious ideas on their heads. He's finding ridicule from all the religious leaders. Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son. In Matthew 8, this teacher would say that He is the light of the world.
A Lesson That Resonated
For three years His disciples would follow along with Him closely, intimately watching Him, the Word of God, speak light into the darkness. This was a lesson that would have resonated with them. But one in particular that I think of is the apostle John, because we see in his later writings he pulls this very same idea back into his encouragements to the church.
Read with me from 1 John chapter 1, verse 5. The apostle writes, "This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all."
It's incredible to think that this statement that Jesus would have made in John's youth would stick with him in his old age, in some of his final words that he would share with the people of God—that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
More Than a Pretty Metaphor
That might seem like a really pretty metaphor, something that we want to put on a coffee cup or something that we want on the cover of our journal. But I want you to think about just how powerful that really is, because if we just take a little bit of time to look at the world around us, I don't think any of us would argue that this place can be pretty dark at times. It can be pretty scary and hard to navigate. Maybe if we're being honest with ourselves, at times it can be hard to not walk in that very same darkness.
What's so wonderful about the idea of God being light and in Him being no darkness at all is what John would write after those verses, because he goes on to say, "So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We're not practicing the truth. But if we're living in the light as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other."
Living in the Light
This is so powerful for us as we live in a dark world. If we remain in that darkness, we're just going to keep walking in it. See, we want to be people who live in the light. That doesn't come from us just forcing ourselves to radiate light. We need to connect with the source of light itself, and that comes from having fellowship with Jesus—spending time in the Word, spending time in prayer, spending time in communities of faith.
The more that we spend time in this light, the more we're going to see this light filling our lives and ultimately shining through us. See, we become what we behold. The things that we cherish most and fill our lives with are the things that are going to start coming out of us. If we're constantly filling ourselves with darkness, darkness is going to come out. But if we remain in the light, if we allow Jesus to transfer us from the domain of darkness and deliver us into His kingdom, then we will walk in the light as we have fellowship with Him.
Look at your life. Does the light of Christ shine in all areas of it? What parts are maybe you keeping hidden or secret that Jesus wants access to? It can be scary at first, but I want to promise you that it's going to be so much more beneficial for you, so much more satisfying when you let Jesus shine that light into the darkness.
Have fellowship with Him, enjoy that light, and then be a mirror and shine that light back into the world that desperately needs it.
