LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Are you afraid of the dark? Maybe a better question is, are you afraid of what might be sneaking up on you in the dark? Children and adults alike need a nightlight on so we can have a connection to life. Even then, the darkness can overwhelm us and we hide in fear.

In the beginning, according to Genesis 1 in the Bible, when God created the heavens and the earth, darkness covered everything like a blanket pulled over the head of a scared child. Then God said, “Let there be light.”  No sun yet. No moon. Just light, emanating from the nature of God. God created the physical scientific phenomenon of light within the context of creation so His eternal light could be seen. Light was needed so life could be seen.

Some four thousand years later, John writes that Jesus is God (John 1:1 the WORD was God), and that He created all things (verse 3). Then John states that In Jesus is live, and His life is the light of all mankind.

John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Fascinating. At creation, God, in Jesus Christ, created light so we could see His life. Now, in His incarnation, Jesus brings life so we can see the light of God’s glory. In the physical realm, light makes life possible. In the spiritual realm, life makes light possible.

Do you remember a time when you were afraid of the dark, and you cried out to Mommy to conquer your fear? I do. I remember early on when Mom would open the bedroom door and let the hallway light filter into the room, and she would say, it’s okay John, I’m here.

As time went on, and I learned to trust that she was there, the times of fear were conquered with a simple statement from her from the hallway without the door being opened. The light of her life was enough to calm me, even though the darkness in the room remained.

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The life of Jesus shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. When you see the life of Jesus, you have experienced the light of God that removes all fear. His life is the light you desire, and when you have His life, you are always in the light.

Here’s how the Apostle John further explains this in his first letter to Christians.

1 John 1:1-7 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Seek the life of Jesus, and you will discover light in the darkness.

Pastor John