Streetlights: I AM SeriesSample

Done Living in the Shadows

In the video we just saw, the light displayed its brilliance in dark, dilapidated places. By its nature, light has many powerful functions.  It reveals things hidden in darkness.  Light leads the way out of dark situations.  Light brings knowledge of what is in front of us.  Light shows you what is truly there.  Without the sun, a light bulb or another source of light, we would be lost and confused.

In a similar way, Jesus knew the spiritual darkness in the world.  Adultery. Deceit. Murder. Sin. Corruption.  He saw it firsthand.  And now as the Son of God come to earth, he was right in the middle of all its ugliness.  All the ugliness that still exists today.

What was Jesus’ response to this darkness?  In John 8, Jesus declares himself to be the Light of the world that illuminates the way for us to follow - a way out of our darkness and sin.  He is the light that shows us how to have a perfect relationship with God. 

I have to expound on this for a second.  When I was 15, I knew much about Jesus and church, but I wanted dark things - selfish desires of all sorts.  Every taste darkened my life and my perspective of living.  I was like both the adulterous woman wanting pleasure and the self-righteous Pharisees thinking, “There are people worse than me; I’m not so evil.”  I was in the darkness and didn’t even know it.  It wasn’t until I surrendered to Jesus and recognized that I needed a light to show me God that I started following His way, His Word and living by His Spirit.  Sin’s control started having less of a grip on me, and I learned to walk with His light in my life. It exposed the dark things inside of me and helped me to grow in God’s truth and not my dark desires, thoughts, and actions.  I still struggled with sin, but the darkness didn’t blind me completely anymore.  Like Jesus said to the adulterous women, because of Him I could “Go and sin no more.”  Joy and hope filled me. My dark life changed. I was done living in the shadows. 

Would you describe your life as full of darkness or light?