Hello again everyone! I hope that whatever day you may be finding this on is going well for you!
If it is, praise the Lord. If not, again I say praise the Lord.
I constantly find myself focusing on all that has gone wrong, or all of the problems and mountains I may be facing, rather than thinking about the purpose of what I may be walking through. I need to refocus every minute of each day and remember all that the Lord has done for me, and how each day, each encounter, and each situation has purpose. So, take a deep breath…. Maybe even stop reading this post for a minute or two and thank God for the moment, the day, and the situation that you are in right now. No matter how you may be feeling about it. Sister, He is ALWAYS worthy of our praise. God is working (and has been working) in our lives in so many ways that we will never even see. Lets not forget the most important thing in our lives. Let's focus on the LIGHT, and only the light.
This summer Drew, myself, and our friend Shelby have been leading a high school girls bible study for our home church. This was something that we all asked to be a part of, but (at least for me) never knew how much I would learn from. We are walking through the entire book of John together and meeting every Monday night with the girls to dive into Jesus’s I AM statements.
I am the BREAD of life. (John 6:35)
I am the LIGHT of the world. (John 8:12)
I am the DOOR of the sheep. (John 10:7)
I am the good SHEPHERD. (John 10:11)
I am the RESURRECTION and the LIFE. (John 11:25)
I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. (John 14:6)
I am the TRUE VINE. (John 15:1)
This past week we focused solely on John 8:12. I am the LIGHT of the world.
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,” I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
So what does this verse mean? I mean at first glance it's a pretty saying that Jesus spoke, but what did he mean by it? Well, let me share with you what I learned while preparing for the girls bible study this past week, because it's pretty dang neat!
Jesus spoke these words during the Jewish festival of Tabernacles. What in the world is that? My thought exactly when I read John 7:2. This festival was a week-long celebration that the Jews took part in in order to celebrate their deliverance from the wilderness, the past year's harvest, and the coming Messiah. A celebration of the past, the present, and the future hope to come.
Lets first note what Jesus said we must do. An action point, “...Whoever follows me…” Jesus makes it very clear that in order to not walk in darkness we need to recognize that He is the light and FOLLOW him.
Another thing to mention, is that he doesn't promise that there won't be darkness, he only promises that if we follow him we will walk in the light of life. Take a look at our world, especially right now. We can see so much darkness, so much sin that is encompassing everything around us. All of the disunity in our country that is causing riots and hate to swell up in almost every city. It's all rooted in the sin of man. Sin is a separation from God, a separation from who God created us to be. Sin is accurately called the fall of man in the Bible because our choice to live in sin hurts us, and only continues to do so. The only way out of this is not through anything we can do, but only through what Jesus has already done for us all.
By Jesus saying that he is the light of the world, he is saying that He is the way we need to follow in order to get out of the darkness of sin that we live in. We need to follow him, put our faith in him, and live as born again believers. By following Jesus we get to “..have the light of life.” The hope and assurance of eternal life with God, that starts from the moment we put our trust and faith in him alone.
The world is in desperate need of light. By following God and doing his will, which is to glorify him and share the hope of the Gospel with others, we can be a part of God's mission to bring light to the world. By no means does he need us to accomplish this, but he invites us! How loving is our God!
By Jesus dying on the cross and raising again three days later, he is the very fulfillment of the celebration that the Jews were partaking in. Jesus is the hope, he is the Messiah. He is the deliverer!
During this study I was prompted to write out ways that I am following God and ways that I am still in the dark. It was eye opening to realize areas in my life that I haven't given over to God. I encourage and challenge you to take the time today, right now, to sit and think about these two questions:
In what ways am I following God?
In what ways am I still sitting in the dark?
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Now let's read John 3:19- 20
“And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and the people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
I had a professor last semester use the phrase “upside down kingdom” quite frequently. He explained that the mindset of the world and the mindset of the kingdom of God are reversed. The world says that if you have an enemy you should hate him. But God tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). The same mindset can be seen here; the people loved the darkness, the world loves living in the darkness. But we are to love the light and to follow the light. I think the reason that the world (meaning us as sinners) loves the darkness so much is because it provides a false sense of security that our sins are hidden. Light exposes those areas of our life that we'd rather not share with the rest of the world, so we keep them in the dark. In order to fully follow Jesus, those things need to come into the light. Without bringing them to the light we stand in the darkness, drawing in our sin. The good news is that Jesus is always with us, ready to comfort us and help us drag those areas of our life into the light. He doesn’t do this in order to shame us, but he does this out of love. He knows that by having those things out in the open, ready to be worked on, frees us. It frees us from the chains that sin brings, and allows us to enjoy the freedom from sin found in Christ! How STINKING COOL GUYS! He is the LIGHT of life! So let's live like we know that, and we believe that!
If you are interested in studying the I AM statements in John further, please consider buying the book, Finding I Am, by Lisa Terkeurst. Drew worked through this book with a mentor and recommended it to us for a basis to lead our summer bible study off of. It's been such an amazing resource and catalyst of growth for me over the past few weeks. Studying who Jesus is has shown me so much more about what it means to follow him, and how the Gospel is truly the most life giving news in the world!
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