Jesus is Light

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The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:2).

Light is certainly one of the most precious things in our world. Without it, we can’t do much of anything. The simplest tasks become all but impossible when darkness envelopes us instead of light.

A lack of light can also strike fear into our hearts and be quite dangerous. If you have ever tried navigating your way through complete darkness, you know this to be true. When you can’t even see your hand two inches in front of your face, it is impossible to walk with purpose and confidence. That is what life is like without Jesus.

Without Jesus there is no purpose in life. Every reason our world produces for our existence comes up empty in the end. Without the light of Jesus, we would be forced to stumble our way through life, bumping into blessings without knowing where they come from and tripping over trials and problems. As we stumble we would always have the terrifying understanding that death could be right around the corner.

Thank God for sending Jesus to be the Light that illuminates our lives. He gives us hope and purpose. He came to remove the darkness of sin by shedding his blood and scatter the shadow of death by rising from the grave. Since our sins have been paid for by his blood, we have the sure confidence that every one of our sins has been removed – even the ones that weigh us down with the most guilt. Since he rose from the grave we have the rock-solid guarantee that death is not the end for us. We too will rise with him to live eternally.

With Jesus lighting up our lives we can live with confidence and purpose. The confidence comes from knowing that nothing can change the fact that our sins have been washed away by his blood and our eternal life guaranteed by his resurrection. Our purpose now is to live every moment to his glory.

Christian Confidence

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“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” – Jeremiah 17:7

I have a vivid memory from the first grade. I was an awkward, chubby kid. Each day, my only hope was to get through class, and get through recess, so that I could get home without anything too embarrassing happening. But unfortunately, time stopped the moment I had to read out loud in front of my classmates. I knew the words on the page, but my mind raced passed them, leaving no time for them to come out of my mouth. I must have sounded like an old CD player that just keeps skipping. Finally, my first grade teacher had had enough and she blurted out, “What’s wrong with you? Do you have a bone for a brain?”

After that, I would shut down when I was asked to read. That is, until my fourth grade teacher treated me differently. She gave me special reading assignments to do on my own. Then we met together, and she treated me as if I didn’t have a reading problem. In fact, she treated me as if I were a good reader who had good insights. And you know what? I actually became one. I got my confidence back because one teacher looked at me differently.

That is essentially what Jesus has done for us. We have stuttered our way through life, giving into our sinful desires. God has every right to call us what we are: spiritual screw-ups who deserve to be separated from him. But like my fourth grade teacher, God looks at us as if we were good people who do the right thing. He sees us this way because we are covered with Jesus’ love and forgiveness. As our substitute, Jesus was treated like a sinner on the cross, so now we are treated like a saint. The more we realize that God looks at us as good people through Jesus, the more we will start acting like it.

Relying on the Lord Jesus, we gain the confidence to face the circumstances and challenges of life. God patiently teaches us in his word, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” Faithfully supported by God who loves us dearly, we can face the events of life, no matter how demeaning or difficult they may be.