Let There Be Light!

The words I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life  (Jn. 6:63).

 

Self-pity is a slimy, bottomless pit.  Once you fall in, you tend to go deeper and deeper into the mire.  As you slide down those slippery walls, you are well on your way to depression, and the darkness is profound.......Your only hope is to look up and see the Light of My Presence shining down on you.  Though the Light looks dim from your perspective, deep in the pit, those rays of hope can reach you at any depth.  While you focus on Me in trust, you rise ever so slowly out of the abyss of despair.  Finally, you can reach up and grasp My hand.  I will pull you into the Light again.  I will gently cleanse you, washing off the clinging mire.  I will cover you with My righteousness and walk with you down the path of life.... (from Jesus Calling, July 16).

 

"I ask myself every night as I put my head on the pillow, 'What do people need?"  (from a good priest who really desires to serve his congregation). 

 

All of us at one time or another have "fallen into a slimy, bottomless pit" in some way, and all of us have to some degree or another been unable to see our way out.  That is what the bible means by saying that we have "all gone astray like sheep, seeking our own way."  Sheep are notorious for wandering away from the flock, falling down cliffs or wells, and generally are unable to rescue themselves from the mess in which they find themselves. 

 

I just love that the opening pages of the Bible begin with the "wild and waste" chaos -- something so unformed that it cannot even be considered life.  And the Spirit of God hovers/broods over the abyss.  The Word comes forth from the mouth of God -- the Word that needs Breath, Wind, Spirit to be uttered aloud:  LIGHT! BE! 

 

There is the Speaker, the MIND/ HEART, that begets the WORD, and utters it with the BREATH of His mouth, and these Three are ONE, undivided.  There is nothing so lost, so deep in the abyss, that it cannot be reached by the LIGHT,  the manifestation of the THREE.  "My words are spirit and they are life," He said to us -- and His Life is the LIGHT OF MEN. 

 

The LIGHT can reach us, no matter where we are.  What men need, no matter where they are, is LIGHT AND TRUTH.  And the words that Jesus speaks are Light and Truth.  If there is a shadow of untruth in Him, He cannot save us.  His Truth must be universal, or it is not Truth.  His words can reach the depths of our hearts, where we are most wounded.  But we must look up; we cannot continue to look at the depths in which we find ourselves.  If we look for His words, His Light and Truth will enter our hearts.  That is all we need.  His Light drives away the demons of darkness and despair.  His truth begins to order our world anew, bringing harmony where there was division, growth where there was stagnation, hope where there was despair. 

 

If we study the first chapter of Genesis, we discover that it is not only about the creation of our universe, wonderful as that is.  It is also about our "new" creation once we have been overtaken by wilderness and confusion.  It is about a new beginning:  and God saw that it was good.  The world is not created all at once; first, there is a space for new growth, and then comes the sprouting.  We must be patient, and keep looking for the Light to do its work in us. 

 

What do people need?  We need the Words of Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life:  Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God, He said.  But man also needs someone to point up, to point to the words of LIFE.  "There was a man sent by God; his name was John.  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world."

 

The True Light has entered our world.  Fortunately, He has cast His fire into human hearts, that they can, like John, bear witness to Him.  I am so thankful for those who testify, like John, to the Light, to those who can bear witness that His words are true!