Christianity in the popular imagination is often misunderstood to describe an angry God who is interested primarily in condemnation, but who, if we are very careful, we might appease enough to escape his wrath. Christians are seen as trying to stay under the wrath radar sufficiently to escape condemnation and make a safe landing at the end of life. Nothing could be more of a mischaracterization. Jesus was did not come to condemn but to offer salvation.
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
The world was already well down the path leading to condemnation. This was not God's doing, but rather came from our readiness to stubbornly persist in sin and our willingness to refuse help at each stage along the way. It was our tendency to believe the devil and his lies that led us to throw off the protection of God and merit the only destiny available other than the life that is found in him.
but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his party experience it (see Wisdom 2:24).
The devil's lies have been persuasive. We see the truth of this not only in the great evils of history, such the atrocities of the Nazis and the Communists, but also in our own hearts when we sin. This is because every sin that we deliberately commit is at the same time a decision to believe the lies of the devil.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies (see John 8:44).
Jesus came so that we could believe in him. This belief itself would be the antidote to the lies of the devil, and freedom from our slavery to sin.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
The light of Christ truly has the power to cast out the darkness from our lives. It reveals the truth that the commandment of the Father is not repressive or mean but is in fact eternal life. Jesus himself reveals that the Father is not an angry or wrathful God, but rather a Father doing everything possible to draw back his prodigal children. As the light of Christ exposes lies that we have heretofore believed we experience freedom.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (see John 8:36).
The disciples about whom we read in Acts had themselves experienced the freedom that comes when the light of Christ illumines one's life. Because of that they were committed to the sharing of that light as the primary mission and the main objective of their lives.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.”
These disciples learned to turn down the volume on anything that might be a distraction to the light of Christ and so were open to hear his guidance. We too can come to live in the light more and more. In the light we will not fear to hear the voice of the Spirit because we will know in advance that whatever we hear will be ordered to flourishing, salvation, and life to the full.
So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit,
went down to Seleucia
and from there sailed to Cyprus.
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