As you read the first section of John’s gospel you will find the metaphor of light repeatedly used. Light was a symbol of both life and truth. Without light, there is no life. Also, without light everything is obscured by darkness. Jesus came to bring life. But to receive this life, we need to realise what we lack. We need to realise that the lives we build without God are futile. We need to realise that the identities we build apart from God are false. We need to realise when we are living in contradiction with reality. We need to realise we are guilty of the greatest crime in the universe, that is, denying God his divine prerogative. All these things remain in the dark for those who live without God. To live in conflict with God we must suppress these facts; they must remain obscured in darkness. Jesus came to save us from our conflict with God, and this begins with bringing all this conflict, futility and falsehood to light. But this is painful. We deeply loathe to face this reality and therefore we are vehemently resistant to allowing these things to come into the light. With this metaphor John summarises the ministry of Jesus and also explains why his people had Jesus killed. We didn’t want to be exposed by the light, so we rejected Jesus. We were so vehemently opposed to be shown up, that we killed Jesus. Thankfully, however, as John says, “the darkness has not overcome the light”. Are you willing for Jesus to shine on your life?
Ask God to bring to light the areas in your life that are in conflict with his will.
Read John 1:1-13 again
