Living in the Light

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God was not with him." -John 3:2 (NIV)


As a Pharisee and as one of the most religious people of his day, Nicodemus had been taught to believe that salvation came from strict obedience to the Jewish law.  But the miracles and signs of Jesus left Nicodemus convinced that Jesus had come from God. Afraid of what the other Pharisees might think but determined to find out more about Jesus, Nicodemus goes to speak with Jesus in the cover of night (darkness).

I've lived much of my life in darkness. I have struggled to turn over parts of my life to Christ. In some cases, it was because I was not quite ready to give up control in those areas. In other cases, it was because I was afraid to acknowledge to God (and others) the sin that was hiding there in the dark. What would people think if they knew the sin that lurked there? Just as Jesus describes in John 3:20, I preferred the darkness; I did not want my sin brought to the light.

In the aftermath of last Friday's tragedy, I've given a lot of thought to darkness and light, goodness and evil. But before I consider pointing out the darkness and evil in another person's heart, I'm going to begin this week by exposing any darkness or evil in my own.

Today I will take an inventory of my life. If there is an area that I've tried to keep locked and hidden from God, I will open it to God. I will not only open it to God but also to a trusted friend. A friend will help keep me accountable, especially when I tempted once again to lock certain areas of my life off to God.

May God grant you the grace to identify the areas of your life that need to be exposed to the light of Christ today. And may the light of Christ overtake your darkness and the darkness of our world.  





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If you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year, tomorrow's suggested readings are John 5-6.