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John, chapter 1, starting in verse 4.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not understand it.
This reminds me of another verse, later on. In chapter 3, a man comes to Jesus asking about eternal life. Jesus answers his questions, but says more… he says,
…the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness instead of the light,because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be made known that his deeds have been accomplished in God.”
He also says,
“God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
Jesus came to shine light into dark places, and both fortunately and unfortunately for us, those dark places are within us.
At first this is good news. At first, we see Him as our savior, rescuer, redeemer. He lifts us up and brushes us off and sets us on solid ground.
But after awhile, it’s harder. After awhile, the Word pierces into our hearts and the light exposes things we don’t want exposed. The light shows us things we don’t like about ourselves.
It seems so simple- when the light exposes our sins, we should repent. But it doesn’t feel simple. Often the light hits us and we run away, or duck, or defend our sins. What I, personally, do is complain and whine. I can’t. I tried, I can’t do any better. It’s too hard. I flop on my bed. What’s wrong with me? You’re asking too much. How could I give up this thing? How could I do better? You’re asking too much.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.
Over, and over again, I hear his gentle voice, calling me to pick up, and come after him. After so many times saying I will reject sin, and so many times failing, what he asks of me is to get up, and come after Him again.
Not, “From now on I’ll do better.” Just, “Right now, I will follow you.”
He doesn’t condemn us for trying and failing. He saves us.
There are times when we feel the reproach of the Lord- do you know when that is? It’s when we don’t even try. When we give up, shut off the voice, quench the Spirit. When we choose to reject conviction and ignore Him.
But as long as we desire to be after Christ- He never condemns us. He only shines his light, gives us life and hope, and saves us.
The darkness doesn’t understand that.
This post is part of a series going through the book of
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