Light Day 19: John 3:16-21

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Here is a function of God’s light that doesn’t sound so pleasant to our natural man: condemnation.

Yet it isn’t the fault of the light that men love the darkness.

If we would only walk in the light and continually abide in the light – then yes, our evil deeds in ourselves would be manifest initially, but after that our deeds would be transformed by Christ in us and the light would be all glorious in our lives, revealing only deeds “wrought in God” within us.

Aren’t we willing to bear the discomfort of the light for a brief season in order to gain the blessing of eternal light and the reputation of Christ within us?

Yet those who do evil do not come to the light. This means that without the work of Christ and its truth living within us, we are not even able to come. No wonder Jesus says that “ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you…” When He plants the seeds of His truth and Himself in our lives, the first fruit that they bear is bringing us to the light – and the light reveals the beauty of those heavenly plants growing within us.

Men love darkness. The kingdom of God is light. No wonder living in the kingdom is a struggle for our flesh! We crave the false security of darkness, oblivious to the truth that darkness is deceptive and destructive. Our flesh shrinks from the barest mention of exposure of its filthy deeds; we cannot stand having our true selves exposed to the world.

Yet in light is freedom, beauty, joy, truth. In exposure is humility, and in humility is God’s grace. In His grace is intimacy with Him.

This is part of what it means to come to Christ. God sent His Son to open blind eyes, to draw hearts to Himself, to bear witness to the truth that believing on Him brings life and light. He came to bring light – He is the light of the world. Since men do not come to the light, Light came to them, bringing them to the critical point of belief or non-belief. And each day, we must again choose to believe Christ above the “reality” of what we see around us or what our natural senses are telling us.

Today, are you choosing to believe Christ and every word He says in your situation and experiences?