If you missed part one of this series, click here.
We’re talking about light.
Light is a theme throughout the entire Bible! Sometimes it points to bringing sight to a place where there is spiritual blindness, often it refers to illumination, sometimes it refers to wisdom, it’s often used as a substitute for good over evil (light over darkness), in more than a few references it refers to Jesus Himself (i.e. Jesus is the light of the world.). Light is often personified in scripture as a sort of trailblazer or guide/leader that we can follow.
- In Genesis it’s Life and beginnings.
- In the Proverbs it’s wisdom and understanding.
- In John it’s Life and beginnings as well as wisdom, new life and that whole trailblazer concept.
Here are several others…
Proverbs 6:23, “For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,”
Isaiah 42:16, “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them .I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground .These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”
John 12:35, “Jesus said, “For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going. As you have the light, believe in the light. Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light.”
Hebrews 10:32, “Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.”
Even the Apostle John returned to it in his short letters of 1, 2, and 3rd John…
I John 1:5-7, 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.”
In this second part to the ‘Nicodemus Project,’ I want to focus on just one aspect of this—light is a guide—a trailblazer that can lead you out of darkness…if you will only…
follow.
Log that away for a second while I go on one of my famous, Robby Rabbit Trails…
One of the saddest things about our lives—not really the inspirational lead in you expected, but, hear me out—one of the saddest things about life is that you don’t remember most of it. You don’t even remember half of half of it. Not even a tiny percentage, if you are ready to handle the blunt truth.
One Christian I read about talks about a friend of his who is a little eccentric. Turns out he actually carries around a pad of paper and pen (everywhere he goes—And I mean everywhere) so that he can write down everything he remembers. If he remembers spilling his plate of spaghetti all over his lap at he dinner table when he was only 8 years old—it makes it into print. Turns out this guy has been doing this consistently enough to already have over 500 pages of recorded memories. I thought about this before arriving at my conclusion—yep, turns out he’s the only one I know who truly remembers his life. And I’m not talking about “Creative Memories” remembering. I’m talking about anything goes, every detail, none too small kind of remembering.
Now, why does he do this? Because that’s the part that sent cold chills up my spine. That’s the part I don’t want any of us to miss. He said he does this because, if he doesn’t, he forgets them—and if he forgets them, it’s as though they never happened. It’s as though he never really lived the parts he can’t remember.
Now, I’m not going to have us conduct some sort of experiment to prove this dude’s depressing theory out, because, frankly, I think the reality of what he states IS depressing…and true! Instead, I want us to tap into the kind of endeavors in our lives that need no recording—that need no filming or journaling because they have a built in eternal impact. Things we will be celebrating for all of eternity. I’m talking about YOU becoming trailblazers. You all becoming reflectors of the light so that you can lead others to Christ!
You know what those memories are like?
They’re like light. A giant radiant beam—seared into our frontal lobes! We could no more forget them than we cold forget to get dressed in the morning!
People don’t come to a gospel believing church by accident—no matter how much it may appear that way. They come because they’re following the light—a series of bright light encounters that have impacted them throughout their lives. It’s the light of Christ in His sons and daughters, and it’s still the best way to lead someone home to Jesus!