Words from the Rock
For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light.
John 12:35–36 Message
Jesus has already made it known that he’s the Light of the World. His disciples totally get this by now, not only in their heads but in their hearts as well. For more than three years, they’ve been experiencing Jesus’s form of light up close and personal. Surely they remember what it was like before Jesus walked into their lives. Most likely their world was a dark and hopeless place. And thanks to the state of the Jewish religion at that time, they had probably given up on ever being united with God. They probably just went about their daily tasks, focusing only on what they needed to survive, to eke out a living—day in and day out, drearily trudging along.
When Jesus befriended them, it must have been the brightest day of their lives. And as they listened to his teachings and witnessed his miracles, it must have gotten even brighter. They were no longer hopeless. They had a purpose, and it all revolved around their relationship with Jesus.
But then he tells them that he’s going to be killed and he’ll no longer be with them on earth. Do you think they feel the darkness creeping back into their lives? Do they realize they’re about to go through a brief period of darkness? That’s what separation from Jesus feels like—cold, lonely, empty, heavy, depressing, confusing . . . darkness. Hope dies, the heart grows weary, life loses its color and its purpose, and we begin to stumble.
Fortunately for the disciples, that darkness would last only three days, but it must have felt like forever. Perhaps that time was a vivid reminder to them that they never wanted to live in the darkness again. Who would?
You don’t have to live in the darkness either. Jesus promises that when you believe in him, his light will shine right through you. And what happens when Jesus’s light is in you? You can see without stumbling. You can get where you’re going without getting lost. And others can look at you and see God.
My Prayer
Dear God,
Please shine your light through me. I don’t want to live in darkness—not ever! I need your light to show me where to go and how to live, and to bring warmth and color and life.
Amen.
Final Word
Never again will night appear, and no one who lives there will ever need a lamp or the sun. The Lord God will be their light, and they will rule forever.
Revelation 22:5 CEV
Stone for the Journey
Jesus’s light gives me life.