The Light of Life

Scripture: John 8:12 (NIV)

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"

Jesus is the Light of Life

Jesus is the Light of Life. He is giving us an analogy of the pathway He teaches and how to follow it. The path is a lifestyle modeled by Jesus Himself. This is why He calls Himself the way, the truth, and the life. He is the true way to abundant and eternal life.

Though Jesus’ life is very well documented, not only in Scripture but through many types of media, He is teaching us that His path is hidden in the dark and a light is necessary to find it. The Good News is that not only is He the path, the way, but He is also the Light allowing us to see the path that leads to our best life.

The Danger of Assumptions

Because the life of Christ has been made so widely known, it is easy to imagine we know the path. We know how to live as Christ did. We must set this assumption aside. Jesus Himself is telling us that the path is hidden and we need Him to illuminate that path.

If we have a casual knowledge of Christ, we fall into the trap of making Him to be no more than a caricature of who He really is.

Even if we know the general characteristics of someone, it does not mean we know them well. It does not mean we can follow their footsteps in areas where these characteristics do not seem to match their behavior.

For example, a general characteristic of Christ is that He cares for the poor. Certainly, He does care for the poor and commands us to care for the poor as well. However, at the same time, when a woman poured very expensive perfume on Him as a sign of honor, the disciples complained, saying that money should have been used for the poor. It would seem that Jesus would agree with that, but He did not. He chastised them. That doesn’t fit the narrative we might form of Him if we reduce Him to a few general characteristics.

Seeking Him to Find the Path

For the path to be revealed to us, we need Him. We don’t need a reduced form of Him. We need Him as He is. To do this, we must pursue Him in spirit and truth. We must seek Him in prayer and meditation. We must seek Him in sincere worship.

These allow for a spiritual interaction so we begin to hear His voice in our spirit. We hear His voice even when it is different than what we had assumed because of how we had reduced Him in our minds. He is the Light, and we must seek Him to find the path to live the life He wants to give us.

Prayer

Lord, help me not to reduce You to a few characteristics, but seek to know You intimately. Amen.