The Light That Saves And Comforts

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

                                                                    (John 3:16-21 KJV)

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

The light who is Jesus the Christ has come into the world. He came so that we do not have to live in the darkness; but, to live in his light. He is the light of hope and comfort in the darkness of the world surrounds us. He did come into this world; after all, to save us. 

It is truly good to find rest in him; in his light.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Living In Darkness

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

                                                                                       (John 3:19-21 KJV)

I understand that there is this place called the dark web. I don't know where it's at. I have never searched for it. Because of my limited computer skills, I probably could not find it if I tried. In that place you can purchase things like illegal weapons, stolen credit cards, drugs, to name just a few things. It is a place of such darkness that I have no inclination to go there. Yet, many do. I also understand that many legitimate things are there as well. But, mostly not. The legitimate things might make it sound like it is not such a bad place, after all. The legitimate things are used to justify what is darkness.

The dark web is not the only place where the good helps to legitimize the darkness of our hearts. Humankind likes to cover what is dark within it with some outward appearances of goodness. Mostly these outward appearances are lies. Lies are used so that the light of truth cannot shine on the real intents.

This morning, I started to read the news online. I could not. There are so many contradictory stories out there about everything, it is quite apparent that some  (who knows? maybe all?) of them are covering up something. It seems impossible to actually read or watch real news. Everything seems to be so editorialized it causes me to wonder what darkness is being hidden under what is being offered as the truth. And, when public figures or the media are caught in the lies, it seems as though they delve deeper into the darkness by adding more lies to the lies to try to justify the deceptions. They refuse to allow the truth to be brought into the light. Rather the lies are covered up with more lies from the dark side.

It is not so different in our personal lives. We like to pretend that the lies about who we really are or what we do are truth. We like to pretend that darkness is light. But, it is not. Darkness will destroy a person, a community, a country, even the world.

We all fall prey to hiding in the darkness from time to time. We are all sinners. However, the Christian knows better and tries to avoid it. We know that in order to follow Jesus we have to come out into the light. We cannot retreat into the darkness in order to hide our sins. We want them forgiven not hidden.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

God's Peace - Pr. J