For
everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light,
lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the
light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in
God.
John
3:20-21
A poem by J. Wilbur Chapman reads, “Christ the transforming
Light, Touches this heart of mine; Piercing the darkest night, Making His glory
shine.” John 3:20-21, speaks of the contrasting difference between light
and dark, and how ultimately through our baptism Christ’s light shines
through us.
It is obvious that we live in a world full of sin, and as John writes
in chapter three, darkness. To put it simply, darkness is a metaphor for death
and evil. There are not many things that scare people more than darkness. One
of the reasons for this fear of the dark is the evil things that are done under
the cover of darkness.
Something that may even be scarier than the murders and robberies that
go on under the cover of darkness are the sins in our own lives that we try to
cover in darkness. There are things in all of our lives that we try to keep in
the dark, things we don’t want anyone else to see about us. Addictions
to drugs and alcohol, gossip about friends and co-workers, unfaithfulness in our
relationships, and cheating at school are just some of the sins in our lives
that we try to keep in the dark.
What are some of the sins in your lives that you try to keep in the
dark? Though we may think that we can keep some of our sins a secret and that no
one will find out, that is not the case. No amount of darkness can keep God
from knowing the secret sins of our lives. God knows all of our sins of
thought, word, and deed.
The dark news is that we are dead to our sins. Because of the evil
that we continue to do in our lives, we deserve nothing more than eternal
damnation. The Good News is that Christ has come to be the light in our
lives. Earlier in John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Through our baptism we are called sons of God. We are brought into his
good and perfect light. God did not give us His light by taking us out of the
darkness of this world, but by sending His one and only son, Jesus Christ, into
the world to save us all from our sins. Christ came into our dark world and
paid the ultimate price for our sins.
John 3:21 says,
“But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be
clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.” Those deeds
that have been carried out in God are the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Through His death and resurrection we are saved from our sins and the
eternal death that we deserve from our sins. Because of Christ’s death
and resurrection we are now called Children of the light. Ephesians 5:8 says,
“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light.”
It is important for all of us to know that all of our sins, even the
ones that we try to keep hidden in darkness were taken up to the cross for us
through Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. It is with this knowledge
that we can face the dark things in our lives like death, relationship
problems, and financial problems, knowing that through our baptism we are
brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ who died and rose again for all of
our sins that we may live in his light forever. We know that through Christ,
this dark world is not all there is for us. We have the promise of eternal life
in a place where as it says in Revelation 22:5, we will not need a lamp or the
sun because the Lord God will give us light.
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