Articles
Christ Brings Light
Sin brings darkness, but Christ brings light. Jesus proclaimed, “I am the light of the world.”
When we find ourselves in sin and come face to face with its hard reality, darkness is overwhelming. Sin produces a kind of blindness. It is blindness of our awareness of doing what we know that is right. It is blindness of the consequences. It is blindness of those we hurt. Sin blinds us to where we simply do not see. Paul will say, “That the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Eph. 4:17-19).
A person never gets to the state of mind where they give themselves over with greediness to sin until their heart is blinded. It is when that moment of clarity comes, and the realization of the gravity of sin hits, that Christ brings light. We think, “Why couldn’t I see what I was doing? Why couldn’t I stop? Why couldn’t I see who I was hurting? Why couldn’t I just walk away?” Because we were blind. But when the “Son” light breaks through and begins to expose our hardness of heart, we see.
Oh, we see all right. We see what we have done. We see how we have turned away from God. We see those we hurt. We see the tremendous price to be paid. We see the road to healing and reconciliation is a long road. If only we could have seen before, we would not have done what we did and be in the position we find ourselves.
Light exposes darkness (John 3:19-21). The light that Christ brings shines the brightest. It does not simply expose the darkness, it also shines to show us the way home. His light shines to show us our way back to our Father. Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12). Christ brings light into our lives to show us how we can be redeemed and reconciled. Christ brings light to show us how to live our lives in a manner that brings glory to God. Christ brings light to show us the way of selflessness. Christ brings light that shows us how we can be like the Father.
A lighthouse shines a beacon of light for ships lost and tossed in the darkness of the sea, to see the way to the shore and safety. Christ shines that bright light to show us the way home, where there is true security and peace.
Rickie Jenkins
