Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Isaiah 42:16,
Lord, lead me in ways I do not yet know.
Guide me along life’s unfamiliar paths.
Turn the darkness into light before me
and make the rough places smooth.
Do not forsake me, Lord.
Amen.
Reading
When the religious leaders brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus (John 8:1-11), He was still in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. At that Feast, to commemorate the great pillar of fire that had led the Israelites through the wilderness all those years ago, two enormous candelabra were lit in the Temple Courts in a ceremony called “The Illumination of the Temple”.
With this moment fresh in the memories of the people, Jesus declared a profound aspect of His identity:
‘I am the Light of the world!’
This statement has a great depth and breadth of implications, but central to its meaning is that Jesus perfectly casts light on Who God is and how God desires people to live. If we want to know what God is like, we need look no further than Jesus. And if we want to know how to live the abundant life God has always intended for us, we need look no further than Jesus. Jesus is the Light of the world!
Then Jesus went one step further and declared:
‘Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’
Those who enter a relationship with Jesus by faith, find themselves no longer separated from God in spiritual darkness, but in a relationship with God Himself. And those who accept Jesus’ teaching and live by it find that they are no longer in the darkness of ignorance about the best way to live, but are walking in His Way of abundant life. Following Jesus keeps us in His Light.
Now, imagine the earth spinning on its axis in relation to the sun, and the way the sunrise moves daylight around the earth, followed inevitably by the sunset and night. Now imagine that you were able to fly “backward” (against the direction of the earth’s spinning on its axis) fast enough to keep ahead of the sunset and follow the daylight zone. You would be able to experience constant daytime and never be in the dark.
This is, in a spiritual sense, what Jesus promises us. If we will stick close to Him, we need never again know what it is like to be out of communion with God, or out of step with His Way.
‘Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’
Will you follow Him today? Will you stay close to Him and in step with Him? I pray we all will.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn these declarations over and over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will stay close to Jesus.
- I will stay in step with Him and walk in His light.
Holy Spirit, draw me ever closer to Jesus, and ever further into His light. Amen.
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