John 3:16-21 - "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants."
Those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.
I like that.
I'm learning that there are many ways to serve God. There is no one "right" way to serve God, nor is there a "right" way to live for God. The key, though, is to actually serve God, and live for Him.
God is much too large to be "a part of" our lives. Indeed, to make God only a part of our lives is showing a profound lack of understanding of who we are in relation to God. How can that which created me be only a part of me? That's silly.
If find that my desire instead should be to submit myself to God and let God remake my life so that God IS my life. The only way to fully live "in the light" that Jesus talked about is to submit our lives to God and let Christ's light shine into, indeed to fill, our hearts.
When that happens, all the dark corners of our minds and hearts that we keep hidden, all the dusty passages where we hide our dark thoughts and our favorite sinful delights, come fully into view. The light spreads though our souls and reveals in us just how very depraved and evil we are, and begins to chase away the darkness that has persisted in our hearts for so long.
If we're honest with ourselves, we begin to wonder how we ever thought we were hiding these things from God in the first place. Hebrews 4 says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable."
Everything is naked and exposed before God. Nothing in all creation is hidden.
Wow! Holy Cats! That's an incredible thought when you really stop and consider it. Jesus (who is God) is the light, and when we draw near to that light, WE begin to see in our lives all the things that we thought were hidden, that God has seen all along. Everything we do is and always has been seen by God.
Thank God for Jesus and the forgiveness mentioned above in John 3. The light did not come into the world to condemn us (show us our evils ways and then swat us for them) but so that we would be saved (to show us our evil ways, and encouraged us to turn FROM evil toward God). The apostle Paul notes in Romans 8, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit (The Light) has freed you from the power of sin (darkness) that leads to death."
So, since Christ shines the light into our lives, and our lives are (and always have been) exposed and naked for God to see, and we now know that God does not condemn those who belong to Jesus and accept his gift of life, why do we act with each other as if we can still hide our darkness from God?
It is the responsibility of ever Believer to live their lives understanding the truth that God sees everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. And we are to live in the light, letting our lives be seen by all, "so others can see that they are doing what God wants."
If ever you feel the need to hide things in your life from a fellow believer out of shame or fear, you can be 100% assured there is some corner of your heart that you are hiding in darkness. I don't say that as condemnation, but as an acknowledgement of our limitations as humans. A wise pastor once told me that unconfessed sin is the biggest obstacle to living in the light. Thank God for His grace and mercy, or we'd all be lost.
We should strive to live our lives openly and honestly (in the Light) if we know we are living right by God, and following his Holy Spirit's lead. Indeed, we should be truthful with each other in all things, even if some don't like to hear the truth when it's told. Trust God to use the truth to His glory.
In all things, though, we should always be loving and gentle with each other, patient and kind in all things, and never seeking our own agenda. We must submit to one another in love.
1 Peter 4:8, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
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