The Light of the World

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://encounterchurch.org/messages] 

John 8:12 says, “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.’ ”

How many times have I heard that Bible verse, but never really thought too hard about it? Countless. Yup, Jesus is the light of the world. Got it.

It seems like such a simple and cliche idea—that Jesus is the light of the world. He shines eternal hope into our dreary earthly lives. But I think we need to stop and really explore the meaning of those words, and then let them sink in.

Light reveals God.

In the Old Testament, God’s presence, in the form of a pillar of fire by night or cloud of smoke by day, led Moses and the Israelites through the desert to the Promised land. This fire or smoke could be seen from far away and revealed to the Israelites that God was still with them.

There are moments in my life where the light of Christ shines in, letting me know that He’s still there, that He will never leave me, and that He never breaks His promises. Last week I was rocking my son to sleep and Jesus broke into my small little world and illuminated the miracle that he had given me. I just stared down at Gus’s little face and began crying, overcome with amazement that God created this little person and let me be his mama. I rarely stop to think about the miracle of life, but it’s moments like those where I know I can see the light of Christ shining into my life and revealing His presence.

Light guides us.

The fire and smoke in the desert were also guiding the Israelites to their final destination. The Israelites followed closely behind the presence of God, trusting that He would deliver them to the Promised land.

I’m the worst at following. I like to create my own plans and be the one to follow through on them; you might say I have control issues. Letting Christ lead me is extremely challenging, but I try to remember that the God who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt is the same God who sent His son Jesus to die and give me eternal life; why wouldn’t I give up control to a God like that?

Light exposes the darkness.

As we’ve had sunny days in Michigan recently, I have loved keeping our curtains open and soaking up some Vitamin D. Unfortunately for me, that sun also revealed some (okay, a LOT) of cobwebs that had accumulated over the winter. I’m sure they were there the entire time, but the light shining in our windows revealed them to me; and now that I had the knowledge of them, it meant dusting. And I hate dusting. But that’s besides the point. Sometimes God’s light shines into our lives and we see things that we wish we could keep hidden. He exposes all of our shortcomings, faults, and sins so that we can repent, change, and seek grace at Jesus's feet.

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons user goosmurf

Jesus is the light of the world.

These words mean so much more than our initial surface-level interpretation. Jesus's light lets us know that God is always with us and keeps his promises. We also can follow closely behind Jesus as He guides us with His light in order to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. And finally, Christ’s light exposes the darkness in our lives so that we might hear His voice and choose to follow Him.

If you are seeing the light of the world for the first time, or the first time in a long time, be open to how God reveals Himself to you. If you’ve been walking blindly through life, not knowing which direction you’re headed, choose to follow in Jesus’s footsteps and live a life modeled after Christ. And if God is exposing some darkness in your life—whether that’s sin, shame, guilt, or addiction—allow His light to fill every corner of your dark heart and begin transformation in your life.

[Megan Stephenson is a proud new mom to her nine-month-old son August and spends her days trying to figure out how to take care of her tiny human. She also works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. Megan loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]