Christ - The True Light

“There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”

John 1:9

The word “light” is used 23 times in the first 12 chapters of John to describe Jesus. Notice the first mention is 1:4 where John says of Christ “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Verse nine describes Jesus as the “true light which enlightens every man”. Some believe that this verse means everyone is saved. I don’t think that is the case. I think it means that Christ is revealed to every person and some chose to trust Him for salvation. Others may be enlightened in that they hear about Christ, but chose to reject Him. While it is Jesus desire that every human be united to Him in faith, He does not make that decision for us. He has given each of us a will; some exercise that will toward Him and others reject Him.

Notice that verse five explains that “the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not overpower it.” The light of Christ reveals sin. Satan understands that and creates a real battle within each person, and within the world itself, but he is unable to overpower our Lord. That battle is not over when one trusts Jesus as his/her Savior because the old nature is still present within us. We are still able to be tempted by sin and if Satan can convince us to sin our relationship with Christ is impaired.

John says in a later book (I John 1:9) that if Christians “confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnes.” That verse was written for Christians, because God knows, even as His children, we will sometimes yield to temptation. He provides a way for us to get back in right relationship with Him. Anytime we recognize sin in our attitude or actions we should claim that verse so that we can live victoriously as He desires.

John also realizes that he is not the true light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. The same is true for us as Christians. We are not the true light to our unsaved friends, but we are to be a witness for Christ, the true light. Our responsibility is to expose our friends to the true light and allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. We never want to draw attention to ourselves, but to Christ.

As a young child in Sunday School we learned a song that contained the words “this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine till Jesus comes, I’m going to let it shine.” I pray that your light will continually shine for Him.

Life - Our Most Important Asset

“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

John 1:4

As God created man, He gave him life. There are two aspects of life to consider; physical life and spiritual life. When man was originally created, I believe He was given a physical life that would last forever. However, man chose to disobey God, to sin, and the result of sin is death. There are also two aspects of death; physical death and spiritual death.

There are three facets of our physical life; body, soul and spirit. Our body ages and has specific limitations. Our soul may be considered to have three parts, intellect, emotion and will. We understand that with our intellect we comprehend things. We learn many things in our lives that help govern the way we live. Much of what we learn comes from the education process but we also gain valuable knowledge from experience.

The way we feel is most often guided by our emotions. At times we are happy and at other times we experience sadness. We have joy as well as anger. Sometimes we are motivated and at other times we are not.

We also have a will. Our will often drives us to complete tasks or to carry out assignments. A lack of will often allows us to leave things incomplete or to be lackadaisical about completing a task.

When we are physically born we are sinners facing spiritual death and we learn during our life of a need to trust Jesus as our Savior. When we do that a very important thing happens; the Holy Spirit indwells us and desires to become a major influence on our lives. I Cor. 6:19 explains that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”. Since our bodies are that “temple” we have a responsibility to keep them in good physical condition. We are as much a testimony with our body as with the rest of our life.

We should also realize a need to mature spiritually as well as physically. Three things are necessary for us to develop spiritually. We need to be in a good church where we enjoy worshipping God, studying the Bible, enjoying the fellowship of other believers. We also need to study the Bible daily and be diligent in our prayer life. Finally, we need to develop relationships with others that will help us mature in our Spiritual life.

God has given us life. We live it to the fullest by placing our trust in Him and walking in His will.

In the beginning

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.”
John 1:1

The phrase “in the beginning” is a difficult one to fathom. Notice that the next word “was” is past tense. The God we worship has existed eternally, as has His Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no beginning with them.

There are a couple of things we can learn from this verse. First of all since God is an eternal being He had no need for “time”. Time was created for man’s convenience when the heavens and earth were created. Time seems so important to us, and we should try to use it wisely, but we should remember that one reason God looks at everything differently than we is that His perspective has no time constraints.

As we continue to read in this chapter we confirm that “Word” is another name for Christ. In Genesis 1:1 we read “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. The word “God” as used in this passage is Elohim, which is the plural form of God. God the Father did not create the Son and the Holy Spirit at some time. He is a triune God who has no beginning and no end; He exists forever. That is difficult to comprehend, isn’t it.

As we read and study the Scripture we need to remember that we are finite beings and our God is an infinite being. Because of that difference we will not be able to completely comprehend Him in our lifetime. However, we can be sure that we can understand enough to know that we can confidently place our faith in Him, and be assured that we are going to spend eternity with Him.

It is especially important that we stay mindful of that and don’t doubt that fact as we face difficulties in our lives. God loves us, desires His very best for us and will accomplish that if we allow Him to do that.

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and are ready for a new year. I’ve enjoyed studying the Gospel of John and have chosen this year to send devotionals from that book. The book was written by John the disciple; not John the Baptist. We will see that Jesus truly loved John and trusted him completely. Remember when Jesus was on the cross, He asked John to care for His Mother. John also deeply loved Jesus. He shares many intimate details of Jesus’ life and ministry.

I think John was probably a pretty timid person. He writes this entire book in third person without identifying himself. He calls himself “the one Jesus loved”. There are many well known and important verses in John, including one that shares the purpose of the book “but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (20:31).”

I trust you will enjoy and benefit from the study of the book as I have.

Blessings,

Joe

Seasonal Thoughts

The Thanksgiving holidays give us a reminder and an opportunity to be thankful to our God for who He is and for what He has done for us. I’ve been convicted this week that thanksgiving should be a greater part of my prayer life. It’s so easy to rush into my needs, rather than to be thankful. I’m reminded of the ten lepers who were healed and only one came back to thank Jesus for the miracle of healing.

An article in the Dallas Morning News also encouraged me to pray for those who may have needs in areas for which I am giving thanks. For example we daily thank God for the provision of food and that can be a reminder of those around us who are unable to provide food for their families. It also should remind us of those ministries who serve others by providing food for the hungry. Perhaps God may lead us to help one of those ministries in some way.

Perhaps the story of the lepers can remind us to be thankful for our health. Many around us are physically suffering and struggling with debilitating illnesses. These past few weeks my wife has struggled with her health and has been told she will contend with an immune deficiency the rest of her life. We are thankful for good medical care and that the diagnosis was not worse. We’ve been reminded anew of the need to pray especially for those we know who are struggling with debilitating diseases.

We read daily of strife around our world and are thankful that we live in a peaceful nation. Many in other countries such as Sudan, Iran, Israel, etc. live in physically dangerous situations and we should pray for them as well as those who are striving to help them obtain a peaceful existence.

As we thank God for our religious freedom we should regularly pray for those persecuted Christians around the world. We should also pray for those who earnestly seek to protect our freedom worship. Are you praying for missionaries you know who are taking the Gospel to these strife torn areas?

We also thank God for His provision in our life and are reminded of several we know who do not have jobs or are under employed. As we pray for them we should be sensitive to need we might help meet.

Finally, as we approach the Christmas season and the reminder of the birth of our Savior we should thank God for His love and willingness to send His Son to pay the price for our sins and provide an eternal life with Him.

Esther 17 - Characteristics of Strength and Dignity

I would like to close our study in the book of Esther by sharing with you some characteristics that Chuck Swindoll mentioned in his book on Esther. The first is that she exhibited a grace-filled charm and elegance. We first notice this when she was brought under the care of Hegai. We see that she pleased him and found favor with him. The literal translation of (2:9) is “she lifted up grace” before Hegai. We notice later that she won the favor of everyone who saw her (2:15).

The second characteristic we notice is that she lifted up unusual restraint and control. We also saw this trait exhibited in a couple of places. First, she did not reveal her identity. Secondly, when she revealed Haman’s plot, she waited until she felt the time was right to tell the king; the second banquet. She could keep a secret. As you develop close friendships that becomes especially important. If you can keep confidences, your friends will respect you much more. It is especially important to keep the confidences of your husband and family.

The third characteristic is that Esther maintained a continually teachable spirit. Some learn things easily and others are “hard learners”. It doesn’t mean that they are ignorant, but that they have a difficult time accepting counsel or learning lessons from experience. We learn in the book of Esther that she had a pattern of listening to Mordecai and accepting his counsel. She did the same with Hegai. Those who have experience and are wise can help you avoid some difficult and painful experiences if you will listen to their advice.

The fourth trait we see in Esther is that she exhibited an unselfish modesty and authenticity. Remember when her turn came to go into the king (2:12-15). She had the opportunity to take with her anything she desired. She took nothing except what Hegai suggested. This was the chance of a lifetime for her, but she does not succumb to the temptation around her; the superficiality, the selfishness, the seduction, the self-centeredness. Her life did not revolve around her physical appearance. Please don’t try to be someone you are not.

Next we see that Esther modeled a kind winsomeness, regardless of her surroundings. She found favor in the eyes of all who saw her (2:15), including the king (2:17). Winsomeness is being pleasant, delightful, attractive in an engaging way.

Finally, she displayed a respect for authority. Notice that even when she became queen (2:18-20) she remembered the wisdom of Mordecai and followed his counsel. There will always be those who have some authority over you. It is in your best interest to respect that authority.

I pray that these characteristics might describe you just as they described Esther.

Esther 16 - God's Timing

An important concept for us to remember is that God’s timing may not always be the same as ours. Most of us tend to get very impatient rather easily and sometimes it is easy to make demands on God as well as others that may not be in His perfect will.

Chuck Swindoll wrote a book on Esther and makes the comment that God lives and moves outside the realm of earthly time. He does this because He exists eternally. God instituted the concept of time for the convenience of humans, but He transcends it because He has no beginning and no end. It is critical that we never lose confidence in God.

Sometimes as we bring our requests to Him it seems that He is silent; that He does not answer. Nevertheless He is still at work in our lives. If we don’t believe this, during the times when we think He is silent we may panic, doubt, become cynical, resentful and even bitter at Him.

There are a couple of things we need to remember about the way God works. First, there are times when it seems He is silent and not responding. Secondly, the turning points of life, the significant events, are often subtle. A sensitive heart is required to detect those things. Remember that time in the book of Esther when the king could not sleep and by reading he remembered Mordecai had saved his life and then shortly after that Haman shows up in the court. This is a subtle, but very significant event in the story of Esther. Nothing is coincidental in the Christian life. Luck has no place in our vocabulary.

Esther had a sensitive heart and a sensitive ear. Remember she didn’t tell the king about her problem at the first banquet. I think she sensed the timing wasn’t right and created another opportunity by asking them to come back for a second banquet. Eccl. 3:1, 7 says “…there is a time for every event under heaven…a time to be silent, and a time to speak”.

You may go through some very tough periods in your life; most of us do. Remember that no barrier is too high, no chasm too wide for God. He is not limited by space or time, by the visible or the invisible. He lives in a realm that transcends all that. He is all powerful. God will have His way when He pleases and for His glory.

I urge you to be sensitive to God’s leading in your life. He may seem silent at times, but He is not absent. Listen for His voice. How do you do that? Study the Bible and pray. Listen to the counsel of those Christians who you know are mature and balanced believers. Remember that the workings of God are not related to our clocks; they are related to our crises. Don’t hesitate to come to God with your frustrations. Prayer can be very calming when there is a crisis in our lives. Remember He loves you and desires His best for you.