Light or Darkness

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LIGHT OR DARKNESS

John 8:12

12 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."  NIV

These words of Jesus are jammed packed with the truth we live by. Having once lived in darkness, that terrible city of darkness and death, we know the huge difference between the darkness and the light. It would seem there can be only two reasons a person would walk in darkness. First, they have never heard the gospel message. Second, they have heard it and refuse to accept the message because they love the darkness. However, for those who have never heard the gospel, God says they are still without excuse, for what may be known about him is clear to them through creation. That makes us wonder why we spend so much effort in evangelism or missionary work. Those people in far off remote villages should be able to find God all on their own. Yet we are also told to go into all the world and preach the good news, so that is what we do. Those who have heard and refuse and want to live in the darkness, do so because they think the darkness hides their sin. Once exposed to the light, which penetrates the darkness anyway, we simply have to come out of darkness, leave it and come out and walk in the light and experience life. Life is always better than death, hands down. It seems rather foolish to want the temporary pleasures of sin, and then experience death, which there are several theological positions as to what death means. One is to go to hell and live in eternal punishment. According to the Revelation given to John, hell is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, so those who choose death will end up for all eternity in the lake of burning sulfur. This again from the same position means burning in sulfur, being punished in that manner for all of eternity. The other theological position says that death means, not only the death of the body, but the second death, the death of the soul, or spirit. This position would state that because of John 3:16. The choice is eternal life, or perish. The Greek word translated as perish means to be fully destroyed. So then it is a matter of life or death, Light or darkness. We choose light, we choose life. It really does not matter which theological position is right, death is still a very wrong choice, to either be in eternal punishment in the flames of burning sulfur or to cease to exist altogether, to never ever be aware of ever living, to experience that second death, we choose life, the only rational choice. We wonder if those who choose to remain in the darkness decide rationally to do so, or is their choice based more on emotions. Maybe it might be because of a lack of knowledge of the truth. So many people think just being, what they think is being, a good person will gain them entrance into heaven. Maybe some people think because they do some good works, it will gain them entrance into heaven. Yet both those ways of thinking do not line up with the truth. Are people just deceiving themselves? The truth never varies, it does not mold to man’s thinking, such as the way the Pharisees and the teachings of the law thought. Jesus says it as clear as it can be if a person wants the life they must walk in his light, his truth. Again, it is a choice as to which one, life or death. There is no middle ground, no grey area, no riding the fence, it is an either/or choice. The most rational choice is life. Maybe it comes down to the wise or the foolish choice. Either way, we chose the light.