Day 5: Jesus Speaks to the Crowd
Read John 12:44-50
Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
Reflect
Have you ever walked into a completely black, dark room? When you did, were you thinking, “I hope I don’t trip and where is the light switch?” Everywhere we go, people in our lives are walking around in spiritual darkness – e.g., in our neighborhoods, at work, where we shop. Even when someone looks like he has it all together, there can be a yearning in them, an empty part in his soul that is dark and longs for the light of Jesus. In this passage, Jesus calls Himself the light of the world. In Matthew 5:14, He also calls us the light of the world. The word in Greek for light is “phōs”. It means to shine or make manifest the brightest light; luminous; like fire.
Even as Christ-followers, we are all still messy — I wish it were different, but it’s the truth. The wonderful difference is that even in our messiness we are the ones in the dark room with a bright flashlight in our hands because the light of Christ lives within us. We are to bring the bright light of Jesus into the conversations and relationships we experience. God has put a variety of unique people around you so that you can show them God’s kindness and share the light of Jesus with them. There may not be anyone else in that person’s life that knows the light – you’re it! Remember, the darker the room, the more powerful the light, especially God’s light. Helen Keller, though deaf, mute and blind, saw light in her darkness.
It was a gifted teacher, Anne Sullivan, who was living out her life calling, that helped Helen make sense of her world and see the light. Helen learned that even though she was blind in her physical body, she could still have 20/20 vision with her spiritual eyes. Helen put it this way, “I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a man-made world. I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God.” The key to Helen Keller’s life story is that it was Anne Sullivan’s willingness to do what God had called her to do; something that no one else could do.
We are to bring the bright light of Jesus into the conversations and relationships we experience.
Respond
God has put you in relationships to do what no one else can do. Ask the Lord, “Who is in my life that you want me to pray for that needs your light? Please open the eyes of my heart to see who it is and open the door for me to share the light with that person.” If you are willing, God will do the work and show you what to do. You are significant and God wants to use you in this person’s life. There may be no one else who can touch this person’s life in the way you can. You may want to pray this prayer that Brennan Manning shared in his book, Finding Rest in Abba’s Embrace.
“Lord, when I feel that what I’m doing is insignificant and unimportant, help me to remember that everything I do is significant and important in your eyes, because you love me and you put me here, and no one else can do what I am doing in exactly the way I do it.”