John
8:12
The Light Of The World
John 8:12 MKJV Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am
the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life.
Jesus
has truly been the “light of the world” and everyone from Ghandi to Lincoln to
Mother Teresa has walked by His light. No teacher other than Jesus is so highly
regarded as worthy, and even Mohammed said that Jesus was the only perfect
person who ever lived.
The
teachings of Jesus are often lauded as a “high moral ethic” however they also
constitute the pathway to eternal life! The words of Jesus are ‘spirit and are
life”: John 6:63 MKJV It is the
Spirit that makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to
you are spirit and are life.
Those
that follow Jesus are not morally and spiritually ignorant, they do not walk
“in darkness” and confusion about life, and they do not stumble in their walk
with God but abide in a teaching that is certain and is true.
The
teachings of Jesus purge us inwardly of hatred, unforgiveness, hypocrisy,
worldliness and carnality. His teachings uproot sin from within us and thus we
are made into a people of a pure heart and a loving disposition – by the Holy
Spirit.
Obedience is the key to knowing the Light for it is “He
who follows Me” that attains the light – not just those who “have opinions
about Me”. John 7:17 MKJV If anyone
desires to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God, or
I speak from Myself.
The reverse is also true, not only does obedience lead to
truth - but sin leads to error. Heresy often begins as an attempt to justify a
most-cherished sin – such as greed or homosexuality or fornication. Thus
certain verses have to be “re-interpreted” and the light is lost as Jesus is
disobeyed.
But what is the practical use of being enlightened? Surely
money and sex are far more useful and enjoyable than mere enlightenment? What
use is knowing the Truth and living in the light if it is a poor and joyless
existence? These are the sort of questions people ask when they look at the
sacrificial lives of certain Christians. People associate enlightenment with
Yoda in Star Wars and Ghandi and Buddha and rightly conclude it is weird and
ascetic and “not for them”.
However Christian enlightenment is not about astral travel
or states of being. It is the simple certainty that God loves you. This holy
certainty irradiates all of life, removes all confusion and anxiety and makes
sense of both world history and everyday life – including our own identity.
God’s love directs our actions and ensures their rightness and appropriateness
and gives us a solid grounded-ness as an individual human being.
The enlightenment Jesus brings enables you to truly know
who you are, and that who you are is already accepted in God, without any need
for striving or change (though, paradoxically change will come as we realize
that we do not have to change in order to be loved.)
The acceptance by God is prior to the changes God makes.
This is much like marriage, where the love in the relationship enables us to go
about the necessary changes. We marry first, and change later. We are loved by
God first and get sanctified later on.
Without
the light that Jesus brings our lives will slowly but surely become discordant
and maladaptive, we will not understand our actions or ourselves and we will
search for love and acceptance in ways that are ultimately self-destructive.
Without God’s enlightenment we can end up like the Hollywood actors, or
Princess Diana, outwardly blessed but inwardly a complete mess. Money, sex and
power cannot bring about inner congruence or self-understanding. Only the love of God, found in the face of
Jesus Christ, can do that.
Psychoanalysis
can bring flashes and insights but it cannot bring salvation, analysis is like
the light of a firefly – compared to the light of the Sun. For salvation is in
realizing you are in a safe Universe, were you are loved by the Creator Himself
and that you are an eternal being who will never cease to exist or stop
enjoying His life and His love.
Jesus
is the true light of life and no other source of “light” can do – not Einstein
nor Buddha nor Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Phil. This is not to say that what these
people say is not useful or good, it is simply not adequate when faced with the
twin problems of sin and death. We need the cross to put our mess to death, and
to completely forgive it and forget it - not just to rearrange it or understand
its childhood origins. As Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 MKJV (18) For the preaching of the cross is
foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of
God. (19) For it is written, "I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of
the perceiving ones." (20) Where is
the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world?
(21) For since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom did not know
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who
believe. (22) For the Jews ask for a
sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom;
(23) but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and
to the Greeks foolishness. (24) But to
them, the called-out ones, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God. (25) Because the
foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger
than men.
All
the equations in all the physics books in the world, and all the teachings of
the great philosophers cannot make sense of your existence the way the love of
God in Christ can.
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