A Daily Devotion for Tuesday, August 25
- ontrakk
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
John 8:12-20
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” It is hard to miss the significance of these two sentences. No wonder those with hardened hearts were intimidated and afraid. We, as believers, no matter how we came to know Jesus, are the fortunate ones. No matter where we are, what we are experiencing, what we have lost or felt forced to take on, we have the light of Jesus Christ to follow.
Holy Lord, who am I, that I have been so blessed by you? How did I come to be included in your family of believers? I am thankful beyond words. Amen
Becky, transforming
John 8:12-20. Following the Light
Every Sunday at the beginning of our service, someone lights the candles on the altar. By doing this we have brought Jesus’ into our time together. At the end of the service the light is extinguished until we meet again. At Hillside, we have a Dad who brings his two young sons as much as possible. We have watched the five year old, Asher, grow up in our building. When he is there, my husband, Jerry, can now let Asher extinguish the light until next week. We have all watched him at 3 being carried to the altar with his hand on the lighter as Jerry did the work. He progressed to being …
John 8:12-20
“ Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness…”
What is the darkness? Is it sin? Confusion and doubt? Fear? Separation from God? Whatever it is, Jesus is the Light to guide us, one baby step at a time. I read a simple way to remember this passage’s message:
Jesus is the light.
Jesus knows the way.
Jesus came from the Father.
Jesus leads us to the Father.
And we don’t have to walk through the darkness alone.
This sums it up nicely.
Dear Jesus, thank you for being the light of the world. Please help me to know that I don’t have to see the whole path ahead, I just have to follow your Light one step…
John 8:12-20
Why would one make the conscious decision to walk in darkness? It is one thing to do this in ignorance, but to learn there is a light and simply refuse to let it illuminate one’s life seems to me a tragic mistake. Those of us who do walk in the light of Jesus are called to try to help others to follow. Our light should shine, but we mustn’t be so forceful as to be annoyingly blinding the person as to the underlying source of our light. Jesus never relied on coercion, nor should we. The Holy Spirit’s prevenient grace controls the light switch. Our light exists so that others can find the switch and begin walking in…