Light • Devotion 2

The Light of the World
Sydney Kimball

If you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior then you have most likely experienced the transformative power of the Gospel. In John 8:12, Jesus tells us, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Since the Fall, the world has become broken and filled with darkness but Jesus assures us that we have no reason to fear because “[He has] overcome the world” (John 16:33). When we begin following Him, we receive His light and the power of the Holy Spirit dwells within us. The Holy Spirit helps to refine us. The Scriptures allow us to see what the Lord has in store for us as we continue to follow Him; He will renew our hearts and minds. As we become this new creation, we will begin to reflect the character of Christ to the world.

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says that just like Him we are now “the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

We are His people, now holy and set apart for the good of the Gospel. The light within us is displayed to others through our actions, through the renewal of our minds and hearts, our behaviors, attitudes, and even the way in which we treat others changes drastically.

What the “light of life” granted and entrusted to us through the Gospel is not something to keep hidden. Jesus continues on in Matthew 5:15, instructing us with what we are to do with the new found light in our lives. He tells us that just as people display the light shown from a lamp on a stand so that it may light up the whole house, we must not allow our light to be hidden by anything. This light within us is the light of Jesus Christ Himself, the Savior of the world. He defeated death and His light overcame all darkness. He gives that same victorious light to all of us who know and love Him. With that light, we have the power to display the Gospel message to others through our actions and reflect the characteristics of Christ along with it! That light compliments our good works and lastly, Jesus tells us that with that light we may “give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven.”

Just as we are not to be ashamed of the Gospel, we are not to be ashamed of our light. It is to be displayed proudly and worn as a badge of honor. I personally see it as the surest sign of our identity in Christ. If this light is of Christ, then my ownership of that same light gives me the deepest assurance that I have been adopted into God’s family, through the blood and sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

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