Category: John

Christmas 2016

.Reading time 4 minutes.



I wrote the following as a submission for a published devotional.  My submission wasn’t chosen, but maybe it will bless someone — Christmas, 2016.

It touches every one of us.  It blares across the headlines in the news and plays out across our country and world.  It also comes to every one of us personally.  It may come as sickness.  Or betrayal.  It may come as sadness.  Loneliness.  Pain.  Death.  This. The darkness of sin’s consequences.

And it doesn’t just touch our lives through the pain and destruction wrought by others upon us.  If we are honest we must admit that this sin lives in me and you.  That we create darkness through the consequences of our sins.

“The way of the wicked is like deep darkness.”  (Prov. 4:19.)  “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  (Romans 1:21).  “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.”  (Romans 7:14).  “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  (John 8:34).

Yet, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”  (Isaiah 9:2).  This is what we celebrate today.  A great light.

“In the beginning … God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Gen.1:1).  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”  (John 1:1, 4-5).  “Jesus spoke again … 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.)

We celebrate today that the light of life came as a tiny baby.  To our weary, dark land.  We celebrate because the light of life has invited us to follow Him – because He has offered to quench the darkness within our souls with His light.

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).  And so, “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  (1 Peter 2: 9).  “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine so that all men may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  (Matt. 5:14, 16).

And so, friends, let it be light!  In my life.  In yours.  Here on earth.  Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Light

.Reading time 6 minutes.




In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”  And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day. (Gen.1:1, 3, 5).   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.  (John 1:1, 4-5). 

I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. … Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.  (Gen. 9:13, 16).  And there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it – A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne – From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.  Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing.  (Rev. 4:2, 3, 5).  

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him … When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram. (Gen. 15:12, 17-18).   From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.  That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.  (Num. 9:15-16).  On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.  Everyone in the camp trembled…Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire.  The smoke billowed up from I like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. … The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. (Ex. 19:16, 18, 20).  You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them – But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. – Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”  (Heb. 18-19, 22-24, 28-29). They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  (Acts 2:3-4).  You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matt. 5:14-16).  

There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  (Matt. 17:2).  His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  (Rev. 1:16).  I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True – His eyes are like blazing fire.”  (Rev. 19:11, 12).  There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.  (Rev. 22:5). 

What ways did God’s light manifest in these verses?  What does John 1:1, 4-5 say God’s light is?  Where does it say this light shines?  How has God’s light revealed parts of your heart to you?  How does Hebrews 12:18-29 admonish us to worship God because He is a consuming fire?  In what ways do you worship God?  What is your attitude in worship?  How did the passages in Matthew and Revelation talk of Jesus’ face and eyes?  What does this signify?  How will God’s people at the conclusion of history see?

Sin and Darkness

.Reading time 5 minutes.

There is no one righteous, not even one.  (Romans 3:10).  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  (Proverbs 1:7).  For although they knew God, the neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual immorality for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised, Amen.  Because of this, God gave them over to their shameful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural relations with unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents, they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.  (Romans 1:21-32).  In him was life and that life is the light of man. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.  (John 1:4-5).  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.  (John 3:19-21). Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.  (John 1:12, 16).  You are the light of the world — let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  (Matt. 5:14, 16).

What have you been struggling with lately?  Have you experience futile thinking or a darkened heart of late?  Have you found any wickedness, greed, gossip, slander, envy — etc. — in yourself lately?  Have you allowed God’s light to shine upon it, that sin within?  He already sees it, friend.  Don’t hide, but step into His light where He will reconcile and heal.  And, in humility and transparency, let that Light shine through you.  What little (or big!) thing can you do today to let His light shine in your life?

Expectations and Disappointment

.Reading time 4 minutes.

 My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.  (Jeremiah 2:13).  Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.  It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.”  This is what the Sovereign LORD the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”  (Isaiah 30:12-15).  We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.  (2 Chronicles 20:12).  
 If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water … Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  (John 4:10, 12).  “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  (2 Cor. 4:6-7, 18).  “[O]ne thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  (Phil. 3:13-14).  

 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.  (Mark 14:3).  But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. (Phil. 2:17).

What is it you seek to fill your cistern with?  What kinds of things do you tell yourself, “if I could: win this game, achieve that goal, have this relationship, fix this problem, have enough “followers,” influence the right people…?  Friends, even where our “goals” are beautiful, good things, if we seek to fill our cisterns with them, we will be disappointed. Have you sought to satisfy yourself with God’s blessings and gifts rather than God Himself?  Come to the Well.  Be filled.  Be poured out.  In sacrifice, let Him flow through you.