Do You Have The Light of Life In You?
Good Morning Friends,
Wake up. No it is not Christmas morning but still it a good morning for a Monday. So rise and shine. Climb out of those coffins you have been calling life. Don’t waste your life on dark pursuits. Open your eyes. Grow to the light. Grow in the light. Shine forth His light. From the beginning of creation it was designed so that you might live abundantly and produce abundantly, in the love of the “I am”… Do You Have The Light of Life In You?
Scripture: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
John 1:1-5 (NRSV)
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’
John 8:12 (NRSV)
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:8-17 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s penetrating Gospel reading is about just one of the seven “I am” statements found in the book of John. Yesterday we touched on the last chapter and so today we go back to the first. We see here Jesus as the great illuminator and much more. With the scripture reading from Ephesians they hint at the connection of them all to the “I am” of the Old Testament and to creation itself. In the New Testament “I am” statements we see the revelation of the true nature of Christ. We go from bread to wine. Here the Bread of life sustains us. The energy of Light illuminates our dark world. The Door is the passage to the discovery of good things. The Good Shepherd is the “I am” that cares for us just the way we need. The Resurrection is the giver of life. The Way of truth leads us through all of life’s difficulties. The Vine connects us to the possibility of being unbelievably productive. Light is part of them all…the light of knowledge, the light of hope and strength, the light of direction and deliverance, leadership and love. Friends, Jesus did not hide His light and neither should we.
Pray we be children of light. Pray the light that is the light of the world illumine ours. Pray we cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Pray we find victory over darkness through the light that is received from Jesus Christ. Pray
for those in darkness. Pray we Love our neighbor as our self. Pray we Imitate Christ. Pray we Get to know others. Pray we have Hospitality for others. Pray we Tell them about Jesus. Pray we too shine a light in the darkness.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 