I AM: Who Jesus Is Changes EverythingSample

The Light of the World
A wife wakes up in the early morning to get ready for work as her husband sleeps. She puts herself together and is halfway out the door when she realizes that she has left her keys in the bedroom. She quietly sneaks back into the bedroom, trying to search for the keys in the dark. But because of the darkness, she cannot find what she is searching for without turning on the light and waking up her husband in the process.

Without Jesus, each one of us is stumbling around in the darkness. We are blind to the truth, and we fumble around, trying to find something to give us direction and meaning. And because of our sin, we are stuck in a place of darkness. We are destined for an eternal fate of separation from God, and there is nothing we can do to bring ourselves out of this place. But out of His great love and mercy, God sent us Jesus, who brings us out of the darkness of our sin. Jesus states in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.” As the Light of the World, He opens our eyes to the truth of the gospel and frees us from the punishment of our sin. He gives us a relationship with God, enabling us to abide in God’s radiant presence.

Because Jesus brings us out of the darkness of sin, we no longer live under sin’s grip. We are free from sin’s control over us and have the ability to resist sin with the Spirit’s help. So as followers of Christ, we are to keep ourselves in Christ’s light. We are not to turn from the Lord and go back to walking in darkness by willfully delighting in sin. Instead, we are to remain in Christ’s light by following and obeying Him, spreading the light of Christ wherever we go. And although we live in this dark world for now, one day Jesus will return, and we will walk in His great light forever.

Reflect and Respond

How does the truth that Jesus brings you out of darkness challenge you to live differently than how you lived before Christ?