JohnBlog - Word&LightSample
JohnBlog - Word&Light Day 15
Which coming into the world, enlightens every man. One sense in which this is so, is that the coming of the True Light makes the world and everyone in it, that much brighter. Like radiation entering the earth’s atmosphere and becoming trapped by greenhouse gases. Everything warms up. Good ideas catch on and truth has a habit of establishing itself over time. It would be impossible to track the billions of pathways in which the ‘true light coming into the world’ infected the world for good. But it must have. Else it was not true light. That is not to say that confronted with light, some choose to walk further into darkness.
The sun and the rain fall equally on the good and the bad, the believing and the unbelieving, the just and the unjust. The influences of Jesus’ life and teaching fall equally on the good and the bad, the receptive and the unreceptive. The amount of compassion, wisdom, love and truth in the world is greater as a result of the coming of the true light. How does it come into the world? By abiding in those who embrace Jesus. Its effects are multiplied by the deepness of that embrace.
The Disciple:
I met a man who acknowledged the poverty of his own soul and sought help from the Light. I knew another who also knowing his own poverty and being attracted to the Light, settled for the familiarity of darkness. I would like to think that the thought of the distant light gave him some comfort.
Lord of goodness, you have a habit of infecting the bad. Your light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it.
I have read that economies work better in cultures where there is more trust; that mangers perform better when they praise, encourage and thank their workers; that societies work better when there is more respect of others; that mental health and happiness are better when there is forgiveness and affirmation; that contentment is greater when there is less materialism and greed.
I have discovered for myself that life works so much better when guided by your Light.
No one need defend the true light. The true light coming into the world demonstrates its credentials by its illuminating and transforming power.
Which coming into the world, enlightens every man. One sense in which this is so, is that the coming of the True Light makes the world and everyone in it, that much brighter. Like radiation entering the earth’s atmosphere and becoming trapped by greenhouse gases. Everything warms up. Good ideas catch on and truth has a habit of establishing itself over time. It would be impossible to track the billions of pathways in which the ‘true light coming into the world’ infected the world for good. But it must have. Else it was not true light. That is not to say that confronted with light, some choose to walk further into darkness.
The sun and the rain fall equally on the good and the bad, the believing and the unbelieving, the just and the unjust. The influences of Jesus’ life and teaching fall equally on the good and the bad, the receptive and the unreceptive. The amount of compassion, wisdom, love and truth in the world is greater as a result of the coming of the true light. How does it come into the world? By abiding in those who embrace Jesus. Its effects are multiplied by the deepness of that embrace.
The Disciple:
I met a man who acknowledged the poverty of his own soul and sought help from the Light. I knew another who also knowing his own poverty and being attracted to the Light, settled for the familiarity of darkness. I would like to think that the thought of the distant light gave him some comfort.
Lord of goodness, you have a habit of infecting the bad. Your light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it.
I have read that economies work better in cultures where there is more trust; that mangers perform better when they praise, encourage and thank their workers; that societies work better when there is more respect of others; that mental health and happiness are better when there is forgiveness and affirmation; that contentment is greater when there is less materialism and greed.
I have discovered for myself that life works so much better when guided by your Light.
No one need defend the true light. The true light coming into the world demonstrates its credentials by its illuminating and transforming power.
Scripture
About this Plan
A meditation on John inspired by the 15th Century devotional ‘Imitation of Christ.’ In 2011 Chris Webster, a professor with positions at Hong Kong and Cambridge Universities, awoke from a 4 day coma. He started writing JohnBlog as spiritual instructions for his teenage daughter and son should he not return from a second cardiac arrest. This also tells everyone why he exuberantly loves life but considers death as gain.
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This plan was provided by Chris Webster a proferssor with positions in Hong Kong and Campbridge Universities. For more information, please visit: http://JohnBlog.net