The word was Jesus...
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The word was Jesus. He was with God in the beginning and he was God. There is only one God. I am only one person, yet to some I am pastor, to some I am husband, to some I am father. My parents are gone or I would also be son, yet I am one. We may also say that God is different to each of us. He may be judge to some, and to others he is defense attorney. He is both Father and brother (through Jesus).
Jesus' life was light. Darkness is not a separate element. You can turn on a light and see everything clearly, but if you are in a lighted room you can't switch on something to make it dark. In darkness we don't see things and we stumble over them. If we are in darkness we don't see sin. We can't see the evil we do. Without the light of Christ we can stagger along in our sinful ways, but if someone turns on the light we are horrified at what we see. We have two choices: 1) Turn off the light and try to forget what we have seen and go on with our sad life, or 2) We can feel sorry for our sins and seek forgiveness, and also ask for the light to remain and the strength to stay in the light and avoid doing wrong.
God most often sends someone ahead of him to open minds and hearts to receive him. That is the job of a missionary and pastor, though it could be the job of a parent or a friend. God may call anyone of us to prepare the way for him to come to others who have not met him.
When the people came to hear John, there was something in them that recognized the truth. All a missionary has to do is tell the story we have been given and we can see a light dawn in the people to whom we are speaking. When I was on the Apache reservation they recognized that the God that the priest were telling them about was Usen, the god they had been worshiping. Many languages had different names for God, but you would recognize the God who had made you. God's Spirit is planted in everyone so that when the light of the gospel is turned on, those who recognize him will become his children. As the scripture assures us so often, we have been adopted because of our faith.
Our whole lives need to reflect our faith, though we have to be careful. One child coming out of church turned to the pastor and said, "Are you God?" We must, like John, say that the one God sent in the flesh of Jesus is the only God.
Don't let the joy of our Lord's coming to us fade away as the lights of Christmas do when we take down the tree. Keep Jesus in your heart fresh every day, and let Sundays keep reminding us so that the light never fades away in our lives.
Jesus' life was light. Darkness is not a separate element. You can turn on a light and see everything clearly, but if you are in a lighted room you can't switch on something to make it dark. In darkness we don't see things and we stumble over them. If we are in darkness we don't see sin. We can't see the evil we do. Without the light of Christ we can stagger along in our sinful ways, but if someone turns on the light we are horrified at what we see. We have two choices: 1) Turn off the light and try to forget what we have seen and go on with our sad life, or 2) We can feel sorry for our sins and seek forgiveness, and also ask for the light to remain and the strength to stay in the light and avoid doing wrong.
God most often sends someone ahead of him to open minds and hearts to receive him. That is the job of a missionary and pastor, though it could be the job of a parent or a friend. God may call anyone of us to prepare the way for him to come to others who have not met him.
When the people came to hear John, there was something in them that recognized the truth. All a missionary has to do is tell the story we have been given and we can see a light dawn in the people to whom we are speaking. When I was on the Apache reservation they recognized that the God that the priest were telling them about was Usen, the god they had been worshiping. Many languages had different names for God, but you would recognize the God who had made you. God's Spirit is planted in everyone so that when the light of the gospel is turned on, those who recognize him will become his children. As the scripture assures us so often, we have been adopted because of our faith.
Our whole lives need to reflect our faith, though we have to be careful. One child coming out of church turned to the pastor and said, "Are you God?" We must, like John, say that the one God sent in the flesh of Jesus is the only God.
Don't let the joy of our Lord's coming to us fade away as the lights of Christmas do when we take down the tree. Keep Jesus in your heart fresh every day, and let Sundays keep reminding us so that the light never fades away in our lives.
