Living In The Light Of Eternity

Ian was overcome with dazzling light emanating from God’s face. He heard the words, ‘I am light. In Me there is no darkness.’ Later God said to him, ‘If you wish to return - you must see things in a new light.’ Ian said, ‘I understood that to mean that I must begin to see through God’s eyes of love, peace, joy, forgiveness, from His Heavenly perspective, not from the temporary earthly perspective I’d previously lived by.’

Read John 1:1-9.

Jesus’ disciple John writes of his years of walking with Jesus physically (v1- 2). But now all people everywhere have the chance of being Christ’s friend (v3). In verse 5, John alludes to something Jesus once said, ‘I am the Light of the world; whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12). What does it mean that Jesus is light? It means He opens our eyes to reality. Light is brightness that makes things clear and visible, overcoming blindness, confusion and darkness. Jesus helps us know who God and we really are, and what the meaning of life is. He is pure. The light depicts honesty, transparency, purity and holiness. All Christ’s motives and deeds are faultless.

His light exposes our darkness, our duplicity, our inconsistency, our compromises, urging us to turn from them. He radiates goodness. Light is essentially a positive metaphor. ‘Light is sweet and it pleases the eyes to see the sun’ (Ecc. 11:7). Christ’s light is a radiating glow off His mercy, goodness, vitality and joy.

Rather than resisting the light, we should come into it, follow it, no longer accept darkness in our lives, but rather confess our failures, and step back into the light (v5-9). It’s not enough to believe that Jesus is the light; we must start adjusting our lives to who He is, and what He shows us. We must stay in the glow of His light and live differently than we did before. In His light, we truly enjoy not just life after, but life before death.

What happens when believers confess their sins (v9)? Any darkness you want to turn away from right now? What difference will ‘living in the light of eternity’ make in your life today?