Tag: Light

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Fear – John 12: 46

Fear: Man running from light into darkness

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Why would anyone want to stay in darkness? I can think of one reason: They don’t want to be seen.

And why would someone want to avoid being seen: Maybe because they don’t want to get caught doing what they are doing?

To believe in the light is to want to be in the light. Not everyone who wants to be in the light can be. In Jesus’ day, slavery was rampant. The Jews themselves were subject to the Romans. Lives were difficult and physically demanding. Achieving wealth was possible only for the very few. Today we live in a deeply divided world. Not only are we divided by wealth into the haves and have nots, but we are divided by our fears.

Those who live in the darkness of their fears are sometimes trapped by those fears. Some want to get out. Some believe in the fear.

Jesus offers us an alternative to fear. It is as simple as believing in Jesus. When that happens, the light breaks in and the darkness starts to fade.

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Children of Light – John 12: 35-36

Then Jesus told them, ”You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

At night, if I have to get up to use the bathroom, there are all kinds of visual clues that help me navigate the dark room. The green glow from my wife’s digital clock. The pale light from the nightlight in the bathroom. The gentle yellow light peeking out from my alarm clock that says the alarm is “ON.” There is also a power strip on the floor beside my bed. I always know I am past the sharp edge of our bed frame when I can see the red light from the power cord switch.

All in all, there is a lot of light in our bedroom at night. If the power goes off, it is a very different story. Then all the lights in the house go out, and there is utter darkness. Not even any light from the street lights out front. Just blackness.

Walking around in that kind of dark is dangerous and slow.

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Jesus Time – John 11: 9-10

Jesus answered, ”Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

Are there twelve hours of daylight? The answer to that is, “… it depends.” It depends on where you are on the planet and what time of year it is. In Anchorage, Alaska there is only about one hour of daylight during the months of December and January. In June and July, there are about twenty-three hours of daylight. Jerusalem is about the same latitude as Ensenada, Mexico; just south of the border. That far south the seasonal shift is much less noticeable, but it is still there.

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The Light of the World

I confess that it is very hard for me to get my head around the idea that Jesus is God. I believe it, but I don’t understand it.

Part of the reason is that being a man, I keep wanting to stuff my image of Jesus into the limitations of what I understand being a man to be all about. But because he is God, he draws on His knowledge of what heaven is like and what his Father is like. When he speaks, he speaks in human metaphors, but he is often talking about things no human has ever seen.

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 9: 4-5
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