Ramesh C. Reddy
Editor in Chief
Hi everyone :)
May you know the "I AM" of your life this Christmas season! Amen!
Quiet Times (Psalm 34 and John 8:1-12)
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:17-18, NKJV)
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12, NKJV)
Observations:
I asked myself what words/phrases are repeated?
What came to my mind is ‘light’! It is mentioned two times in this verse.
I also looked for comparison/contrasts in this verse and found two!
1. Light v.s Darkness
2. Followers of Jesus v.s Followers of self
I also saw a connection between these 2 contrasts:
Followers of Jesus will have Light.
Followers of self will have darkness.
I realized Jesus is speaking this verse to the Pharisees and Scribes who originally brought to Jesus a woman accused of adultery. Jesus addresses that situation at hand and now personally addresses them.
Interpretations:
I asked myself why would Jesus refer to Himself as “I am the light of the world” to the Pharisees and Scribes?
It occurred to me that they would be well versed in the law and the Books of the Torah. It is very possible they had head knowledge without practical application of Scripture.
With that head knowledge, they could recall that Jehovah addressed Himself as ‘I AM’ to Moses so Jesus utilizes that!
Now Jesus goes a step further and says that He is the ‘I AM’ that they know of from the Torah. Jesus does not stop there but lets them know, “I AM the Light of the world”
I asked myself what’s the significance of Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world?
To know the significance, first I thought about the functions of light. What came to my mind is visibility, pathway, and direction. This is what Jesus is telling them that He can be in their lives.
They are supposed to know the Torah well. That means they would already know that Jesus revealed Himself as ‘I AM’ to Moses and the Israelites. Not only that, but during the Israelites escape from Egypt, the Pharisees and Scribes would have known that VISIBILITY, PATHWAY, and DIRECTION played a crucial role for the Israelites deliverance.
This is because the Lord intervened in the Israelites life to give them visibility, pathway, and direction as they fled from Egypt during the night.
Guess in the form of what?
The Lord intervened in a pillar of fire to give them visibility, pathway, and direction so they can have light in the night to travel. This is evidenced by a verse in the Torah that the Pharisees and Scribes should have known:
“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” (Exodus 13:21-22)
The Lord was ahead of them and all they needed to do was to follow. If they did not follow, they would not have had visibility, pathway, or direction. Instead, they would have continued to be lost in the darkness. If that continued, they would have become prisoners again to Pharoah because they did not follow the light but decided to walk in the darkness and get captured.
Now Jesus is making a profound statement to them by claiming, “I Am the Light of the world.”
Jesus wants them to know if they follow Him they will be guided by the light of life but if they do not they will walk in darkness without having visibility, pathway, and direction. Jesus wants them to follow Him as He walks ahead of them giving them the light of life.
They have a choice to follow Jesus and experience the light of life or continue to follow their own ways and eventually find themselves in the darkness of death.
Application:
I saw important implications for my own life. Just as God revealed Himself to the Israelites as ‘I AM’ and later went ahead of them to give them light so they can be delivered from the bondage of slavery from the Egyptians as long as they followed Him, Jesus has revealed Himself to me as ‘I AM’ + the ‘Light of the world’.
As long as I follow Jesus in this world walking before Him, I will have visibility, pathway, and direction for He will be leading me in His Light. This means I will not me stuck walking in the darkness, becoming a prisoner to the bondage of sin. Majority of the time sin manifests itself in the darkness but Light exposes it.
Jesus wants to be my Light so I can have the light of life when I follow Him and be delivered from darkness in this world. It starts with following Jesus and His ways. Jesus is the captain who gives the visibility, pathway, and direction for my life. That is so exciting to know!
Friend, I ask you now what kind of light will govern your life?
Dear friend, when you think about light, depending on what you are exposed to, what can come to your mind is ‘have a light for cigarettes or have a lite such as bud light, etc’ But you know what friend, those 2 things, etc will not give you visibility, pathway, and direction in your life. On the contrary, it is highly possible that they can make you stumble in the darkness if you let them govern your life.
But, there is a light that can give you visibility, pathway, and direction. Jesus claims to be that light for He is the Light of the world and promises that if we follow Him we will not stumble in the darkness but living light will flood our path. That can happen in your life too friend. Jesus wants to be your Light. He loves you so much and wants to go ahead of you and wants you to follow Him.
He wants to deliver you from whatever you are faced with that is making you a prisoner in the darkness. Yes, He does!!! He loves you and offers Himself to you.
Won’t you take the only Light that matters?
Allow the Light of Jesus to permeate your life and allow Him to be in your life for He wants to! He will bring change and transformation in your life. That is exciting to know!
Lord’s Illuminating Guidance Helps Throughout! (L.I.G.H.T)/”What kind of light will govern your life?”
If you want to know the Light of the world, pray this prayer with me and mean it in your heart this Christmas season.
Prayer:
Jesus, it is so exciting to claim your promise for what you have claimed. You are the Light of the world and if we follow you, we will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of Life! Thank you Jesus for offering your light to me! Jesus I want to have your Light in my life as you go ahead of me so I can have visibility, pathway, and direction in my life. Help me Jesus. Right now I am in darkness and need deliverance from the bondage of sin. I cannot deliver myself without following you for you are the initiator to deliver and I want to follow. So right now, I say I am so sorry for my sins. I repent of my sins and confess of them. Please forgive me and help me to turn from them. Thank you for wanting to be my Light. This means a lot to me. I accept you Jesus into my heart and make my heart your home. Please come in Jesus and Light the darkness of my heart with your blazing light. Light the fire in me, purifying me by your Holy Spirit dwelling in me please Jesus. Thank you so much Jesus and I will live for you and serve you the rest of the days of my life as I accept your cleansing of my sin with your precious cleansing blood. Now I do acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior. Thank you for being my Lord and Personal Savior. Thank you that you have heard my prayers and answered me. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen! Thank you that I belong to you now and you have become my Light! Amen!
For those that prayed this prayer I want to say a prayer.
Father God, thank you for welcoming those who have given themselves to you and have come into your Kingdom. Thank you Lord there is rejoicing and celebration in Heaven because they have come to you. Oh Lord, please work in their life and help them not to go by feelings but faith knowing that you keep your promises. Thank you Jesus that you will not leave them or forsake them whatever they are facing but will be there with them. Please Lord, help them to find a community of believers to grow in and mature. Thank you Father God. In Jesus Name I Pray! Amen!
Friend, if you have given your life to Christ, you have made the perfect decision of your life and He will take it from here! Rest in the Lord and allow His Spirit to work in you and through you! He knows the plans He has for you and they are plans for good and not for evil, but to give you a future and a hope! Amen! Praise God! Thank you Jesus!
Friend, if you need someone to talk to or pray with I am available. You can email me at this address, call me at 412-720-4579 or come to Marketplace @ C-Side, Tue or Thu between 11:00 am – 2:00 pm and we can set up a time.
Love in Christ,
Ramesh
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