I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Note: The following seems intense for Christmas week, but I am compelled because the stakes are high. The powers of darkness abhor the LIGHT. Evil does not play fair. It preys on the vulnerable. It capitalizes on every opportunity to take control. Young or old, rich or poor, strong or weak, evil stands ready to keep people captive in the shadows. The LIGHT of the World didn’t come to give us a good time. He came to set us free from the grip of death and cause us to walk in the LIGHT of His righteousness. He came to give true JOY and PEACE. This invasion of LIGHT into a soul’s darkness is a great upheaval. So, to truly celebrate Christmas, one must acknowledge the darkness from which Jesus delivered us.

Adevil was coming to get me. He crept up my bedroom stairs, face shrouded in darkness. This was for real. Suddenly, a light burst upon the staircase leading into my bedroom and the demon was gone. The blinding light persisted and moved gently closer. I could see words burned into the center of the light, “I am the LIGHT of the World…” It was Jesus. I was lying there in His presence. The devil was gone and so was my fear.

I had another episode with the demons. I was only 9 or 10 years old. My room was the scariest place on the planet – especially at night. The demons were always shuffling around, making noises, and terrorizing me. I’d lay in my bed, blankets tucked tightly over my head, arms and legs securely under cover so nothing would grab me. I’d lay there in horror, listening. As I slipped off into sleep, the terror of my room faded, but my sleeping consciousness awoke to other worlds of darkness waiting for me.

I suffered frequent and reoccurring dreams of falling into hell. Innocent characters in my dreams would suddenly turn into evil demons bent on killing me. Rooms would turn into mazes with each passageway descending deeper into hell and each step closer to demons and my destruction.

Months earlier, I had gotten in trouble for something. I was sent to my room. Filled with anger, I stomped my feet against the wall. Then I prayed a prayer, “Jesus, go out of my heart and Satan come in.” I don’t understand how such a concept could even be part of my young mind. But there it was.

We were a good Christian family. My dad was in seminary preparing for full-time ministry. My parents were aware of my fear of the night. But they had no idea. Not really. Mom told me that I was safe because I had asked Jesus into my heart. I don’t remember that. I only remember giving Him the boot.

And thus, the demonic terrorized me for the next 2 ½ years until I truly received Jesus. When I did receive Him at 12 years old, my fears, nightmares, and terror were instantly and permanently gone.

The memory is as clear as if it were yesterday. Jesus burst forth upon my bedroom stairs in a blinding light, His declaration loud and clear. “I am the LIGHT of the world.” And He has indeed become my LIGHT and my SALVATION – whom shall I fear?

“Light in the Shadows” is available to order.

Jesus Christ. The LIGHT of the world. Made like us so we can shine like Him.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [overtake] it.” ~ See John 1:1-5

“I [Jesus] am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” ~ John 8:12

I don’t need to elaborate on the darkness present in our world. What I do mean to point out is that JESUS IS THE LIGHT of humankind. As we celebrate the season, remember the reason for the celebration: Jesus came to meet us. He came to meet me – a LIGHT in my darkness – in my fears and my shadow of death. He brought me HIS LIFE. And HIS LIFE became MY LIGHT!

We can generalize and say that Jesus came to save the world. And that is true. But the world is made up of individuals. So, He came with LIFE and LIGHT to deliver YOU specifically. To deliver ME from the darkness. From sin. From alienation with God.

Jesus became the “LIGHT of men”. It’s possessive. Jesus became a light to be possessed by me. Let me explain.

Walk into a dark room and flip the light switch. A light will illuminate the room. Once you turn to walk out of the room you leave the light and walk back into darkness. The light is fixed inside the room. It provides light only to the area. You can’t really call it your light. It belongs to the room.

But if I were to hand you a flashlight then the light is yours. You have light wherever you go. The light is not limited by location. You possess it. You carry it. You expel darkness wherever you turn.

Such is the light of Jesus. You are meant to carry it – to carry HIM! You are created to possess Him. Jesus made Himself possessable by you. The Spirit of Jesus is inside of you filling every dark nook and cranny with the LIGHT of Himself. You were created to hold the LIGHT.

“That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” ~ John 1:9

And what is the LIGHT source? The LIGHT source is LIFE! LIFE generates LIGHT. It is Zoe LIFE – the God-life, divine, powerful, supernatural, eternal, full of joy and peace! Jesus’ LIFE in you is your LIGHT!

The nature of LIFE is that it creates more LIFE. This is why Jesus (the Word) is described as the Creator of all things.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation… all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And so, God came in human flesh [Jesus] to reach us in our darkness. His life to be our LIGHT so we could be raised from the death of sin and walk in the “LIGHT of LIFE”!

He put on the face of humanity so we could behold His glory (His manifest presence) full of grace and truth.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” ~ John 1:14

What a glorious LIGHT to behold! What a life-giving LIGHT we carry!

Jesus Christ. The LIGHT of the world. Your LIGHT. My LIGHT. Made like us so we can shine like Him.

And having been born of His LIFE you are now a child of LIGHT. Your significance as LIGHT in the darkness of the world is no less than Jesus when He arrived in a world of darkness. The significance of Christmas is that your LIGHT has come and the celebration is that you and I should LIVE (Zoe LIFE) together with HIM!

“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:5-10