LIFE - PART 4

WEDNESDAY 01 MAY 2024

Jesus said to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE (John 14:6 NIV). Christ is the true meaning of life, and He emanates superior life without limits.

Reference: John 1:4 Amplified Bible (AMP)

In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men.

Jesus spoke, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12 ESV). In other words, Jesus is the antithesis of darkness, and so, in His purpose of bringing salvation to mankind, He became the light of all men.

If you have Christ in you, you carry His life and the power to bestow life, which is the Spirit. And the Spirit is the life-quickening and life-giving energy; the sustaining power in the main central source of life. To that effect, Romans 8:11 reads, "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you..." (NLT).  Manifestly, the Logos is the source of life in you, which is not an ordinary life, and this life in you is the light of men, because you are also the light of the world in the stead of Christ (Matthew 5:14 NIV). As we dwell in the light, we shine as lights in the world, by practising and holding forth the word of life.

This light in you represents moral and spiritual truths which liberate from all evil influences, wickedness, negativities and spiritual darkness. In His epistolary expression, Paul stated it as the glorious light of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV). As for the unbelievers, Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded their minds, such that they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. Here, blinded mind as a metaphor, (with reference to 2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV), implies a spiritual blindness, because those who are spiritually blind are incapable of seeing and receiving this light. They don't have the special capacity for receiving the divine light, which in turn, makes it impossible for them to perceive and digest the truth of God's Word. 

Beloved, it is the Lord Himself that opens the eyes of the blind (Psalm 146:8 ESV). To that effect, 2nd Corinthians 4:6 reads, "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (ESV). Once the light of God shines in the heart of an unbeliever, it opens their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, and receive forgiveness of sins, as well as a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ (see Acts 26:18 ESV). 

Ephesians 5:8 reads, "For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" (ESV). In other words, having been liberated from darkness, you are now positioned to walk and function in the light - as a light in the Lord. And being a light in the Lord denotes that we cannot become the light of the world on our own. We can only do so "in Him." Got it? Zero wonder in John 15:5 (NIV), Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches...apart from me you can do nothing", meaning that He is the nourishing root, from which life stems and flows in and through us. So the born again Christian is a branch of the living Vine, who has a life that does not wither, because he is grafted into Christ. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27; Romans 6:23.

Exuberant Declaration:

I am the light of the world, and I'm gloriously enabled by the grace of God, to function as a shining light and a royal priest of unspeakable worth, expressing and bearing the fruit of righteousness in my world. Hallelujah!