(****Post first appeared on the Cornerstone Church blog. Check out some more great articles here!)
I’m sitting down to write this post at a time of an unprecedented health care crisis. COVID-19 is everywhere, in every country and on every news channel.
And while the world has experienced pandemics before, very few people alive have ever witnessed them. Everything is changing: school, work, shopping, social gatherings, even church. The changes bring about fear of the unknown, for sure. No one, not even government and healthcare officials can predict the length or severity of this virus. If we let it, the darkness can set in.
If we let it.
Luckily, God’s word, and more specifically, God Himself, addresses the darkness. Jesus Himself is called the Light of the World. John 1:4-5 tells us this: “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Jesus was sent to this earth to be a light in the darkness. He is a light so bright and pure that darkness cannot and will never overtake it.
And sure, this light came to point out the darkness, to shine a light on evil. Jesus is God, and He was sin-free. Jesus came to show us the way to live, to separate ourselves from darkness and to walk in His way, in His light.
He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12, NIV).
Following Jesus and His ways is the only way to walk in the light. When I think of life in darkness, I think of depression, fear, sadness, sin, and a lack of joy and peace. I think of following our own selfish desires and choosing sinful ways over Jesus’ ways.
But when I think of walking in Jesus’ light, I know life is joyful, peaceful, fearless, calm, and purposeful.
I think most of us would choose light over darkness most of the time (except when we’re trying to sleep, right?) But the thing we must remember is nothing can hide in the light. The light finds things out.
This is also Jesus’ role as the light. He wants to point out the sinful ways in us so we can cast those out and become more like Him. Jesus is all light; no darkness exists in Him. When we choose to follow Him, His light will shine on us.
