Light of the World

October 11, 2010 Monday Message:

Jesus: “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12 NLT

It’s October, and my church, like many others, is well into its annual giving campaign. We always have a theme, and in recent years it’s been about Christ’s light. I especially like this year’s theme, “Reflecting Christ’s Light.” Let’s take a look.

A journey makes more sense when we know the destination. As Christians, our destination - our goal - is to be closer to Jesus, to live our lives more like Jesus lived His life. If we could live like Jesus lived, say the things He said, and do the things that He did, we’d all feel like we were in pretty good standing with the Father. We’d be assured of salvation, right?

Well, not really. Being like Jesus is a worthy goal. But unfortunately, since we’re human, we come up short every time. Nothing we can do will assure our salvation. It’s out of our hands! Justification is a gift from God, and redeeming mankind was the mission of Jesus. We are saved by His grace alone, not by our efforts.

So as our Christian walk brings us closer to Jesus, remember that it is His light - not our light - that shines. His is the true heavenly light, the light that leads to life.

Let that light of Jesus, shining through us and reflecting off of us, be the light that shines into the world. Let His light so shine…

Norton Lawellin

I’ll be teaching at Chapel this Friday, Oct. 15, at New Hope Center, Metro Hope Ministries in south Minneapolis. “Samson – Big Enough to Fail!”