(Audio)
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
Jesus came to save the world. Without him the world is in darkness. We can see this all around us and even within our own hearts. Part of us desires the light but part of us doesn't want to change and be exposed by the light. We allow the words of Jesus a to come so close but no closer. We allow his light to address us superficially but not deeply. Yet what is it that we fear? Why won't we allow him to come close? Is it not because we fear that when we are exposed we will be condemned?
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
Jesus does not want to condemn us. But we choose to live under condemnation to the degree that we don't come into his light. Darkness still reigns in the parts of us that we don't expose to him, to the secrets we keep from him. And these parts of us remain under the condemnation of his word. He condemns them precisely because they harm us and he wants to save us from all the darkness inside of ourselves. He wants us to come to him for light.
When we truly draw near to God, when we let him shine in all the recesses of our hearts, we gain the ability to hear him and the freedom to move as he directs our steps.
"Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them."
It is not just Barnabas and Saul that Jesus wants to set apart. It is not because their hearts were uniquely pristine when he found them. It is precisely because they allowed themselves to be transformed by the blazing light of Christ that they are now vessels he can use.
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
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