The following is the reason why I believe and still have hope: “In the beginning, the Word was already there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
“He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through him. Nothing that has been made was made without him. Life was in him, and that life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness has not understood it … ”
“ … The Word became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son.
“He came from the Father. And he was full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-5 and 14) (NIrV)
These words blew my mind when I first read them three years ago.
I grew up “in the church” and was saved when I was about 8, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Jesus and God are one until I read this.
I’ve nearly approached 200 words, so I don’t know if I can share the entire Gospel in 500 more. My goal is to share what I believe is the truth and give you hope.
I think a lot of people agree that we live in a corrupt world where bad stuff happens continuously.
Here’s my proposal, If we admit we live in a dark, tainted world, why don’t we seek the light? Why not seek Jesus?
We’ve enjoyed the darkness, and it’s easy to see why. We inherited it.
Because of man’s fall, with Adam and Eve, we were born with a nature to sin – to rebel against all that is good, which is God.
We sin differently. We might hurt people intentionally. Or, we might give in to our own selfish desires.
Equally bad, we might seek out anything that God has no presence in to fill in the holes of our lives.
For me, I’ve been trying to fill in my holes of emptiness with people to find love, acceptance, approval and satisfaction.
The bad news is that even if I had 100 close friends, a girlfriend and some activity to do with them every Saturday and I haven’t first embraced the light, I’m dead.
If I were to lift up those things above the light, I’m dead.
If anything I do doesn’t have God, I’m dead.
I’m struggling to realize this.
But, there’s hope for you and I.
We may recognize John 3:16 and move on, but I really like the next verse.
The Son – Jesus – came in this dark world not to condemn it but that it may be saved through Him. Jesus came to offer us life.
Jesus says that He offers life in John 11:25-26. Anything other than Him will lead to death.
Jesus says He offers life again in John 14:6. However, He also says here that we need a relationship with Him in John 14:7 to get to the light.
So, once we embrace the light, we need to know it and understand it through an intimate relationship with it.
We need to give our life to it. And, this sounds funny, but once we do that, we find life in it, which is eternal as is the light (Isaiah 60:19-20).
There’s one last thing we have to understand about this light. We have to learn to be like it.
Jesus tells us to be the light of the world in Matthew 5:14-16.
We should be as bright as a city on a hill and shine in front of others so that they will praise God.
Likewise, our light should not be hidden; it should be seen so that it will be known (Luke 8:16-17).
I believe the task to shine is always an ongoing challenge. Sometimes, I flicker, but I don’t give up.
Therefore, now that Holy Week is behind us, I encourage you to embrace the light. Be filled with it. Be consumed by it and not so much of the mundane.
Respond to Phillip at
