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I’m sharing this here with you from my time of personal devotions with my Lord Jesus Christ, for your encouragement. Sue Love
John 3:19-21 ESV
The Light Has Come
And this is the judgment (ruling, decision, verdict, decree): The light has come into the world. The Light is Jesus Christ. Light is also instruction, teaching, and doctrine. Light is also truth and righteousness. And light exposes evil for the evil that it is but it also reveals truth and righteousness. It reveals what is wrong in contrast to what is right. It lets us know the path we are not to follow as well as it shows us the way we are to follow.
Jesus Christ did come into the world as a baby born to a human mother but with God as his Father. So when Jesus lived on this earth he was fully God and fully human. And when he was around age 30 he began his public ministry which lasted about 3 years before he was put to death on that cross. And Jesus brought truth and righteousness and knowledge and understanding into the world, but most people rejected him.
And the reason that most rejected Jesus and the truth that he brought to them is because they loved the darkness (sin, wickedness) rather than the light (truth, righteousness) because their works (deeds, actions) were evil. And it is the same reason why most people today reject Jesus Christ and his gospel of salvation because they love their sin and they do not want to give it up in order to follow Jesus in obedience.
And this includes many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are buying into a cheapened form of the gospel which is a diluted half-truth (false) gospel message which does not require them to die to sin and to self and to submit to the Lordship of Christ and to walk in obedience to him. So they “believe” in another Jesus and a different gospel than that of the Scriptures because then they can continue living in habitual sin, only now guilt free, and then they can still claim heaven as their eternal destiny, or so they think.
Hating the Light
Now, notice that this does not say that everyone who does not believe in Jesus hates the Light (Jesus Christ and his righteousness), but it says that everyone doing (practicing) evil (sin, wickedness) hates the Light and does not come to the Light. So this includes many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still walking in (practicing) sin. If sin is what you practice, and you deliberately and habitually commit the same sins over again, in deliberate defiance of God’s commands, then you hate Jesus Christ.
For to love God/Jesus is to obey him and his commands, and if we deliberately and habitually do not obey him we do not love him and we do not know him and we do not have eternal life with him. For we can’t hate Jesus and love Jesus at the same time. We can’t embrace evil and embrace righteousness at the same time. If we love one we hate the other. We have to choose. We can’t continue in sin and have the hope of heaven, too.
And so if you do not come to the Light because you hate the Light because the Light exposes the evil that you are doing in secret (usually), that means that your profession of faith in Jesus Christ, if you are making one, is null and void. It does not exist. For it means that you never truly came to the Light but you just made a show of doing so while you withheld yourself from actually dying with Christ to sin and being born again of his Spirit.
All of it was just for show to impress others or to find acceptance and approval of others or perhaps for more nefarious purposes such as those who masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness but who are truly of Satan and who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. So you pretend to be a follower of Jesus in order to trick and to trap the sheep in your snare so that you can lead them away from the Light to remain in the darkness.
Those Who Come to the Light
Now, we can do nothing in and of ourselves, in our own flesh, to be approved of God or to be accepted by him. There is nothing we can do in our own flesh to earn or to deserve our own salvation. So, when this says that whoever does (is practicing) what is true comes to the Light, it is not suggesting that we are able to do right in God’s eyes without having first come to the Light. But it is true that those who are living in God’s righteousness by his grace and in his power are those who come to the Light. We love Jesus and his word and so daily we come to him.
Also, we don’t come to the Light in order to make a show of righteousness or to look good in front of others. This is not about looking good in front of others. We come to the Light (Jesus Christ and his righteousness) because we love Jesus and we love his truth and righteousness, and because we want to obey him and to live for him and to do what pleases him because we are so eternally grateful for all that he has done for us.
And the result should be that it should be clearly seen that the works that we do, which are of God and which are done in his Spirit and in his power and strength, under his direction, have been carried out in God and not in our flesh. But not everyone is going to see that because not everyone, not even everyone professing to be Christians knows what that looks like because they are so used to seeing people operating in the flesh.
But again, we don’t do what we do for God to be seen of men or to be approved by men, but we do what we do in obedience to our Lord out of love for our Lord and out of a desire to do what pleases him. And we also do what we do because we love other humans and we can see what sin does to their lives and so we want to get to them the message that Jesus Christ made a way for them to come out from their addiction to sin where they can now walk in freedom from addiction and in holiness and righteousness.
So, whether or not other humans acknowledge that the works that we do in the Spirit of God are actually of God and not of our flesh, it should not impact one way or another what we do. We should continue in Christ in following him in his ways and in doing what he says to do and in loving others with his love and in sharing the truth of the gospel and in exposing the lies of the enemy because it is the right thing to do, and because we care what happens to people and we care about where they spend eternity.
When in The Stillness
An Original Work / September 26, 2011
When in the stillness of this moment,
Speak to me, Lord, I humbly pray.
Be my desire, set me on fire,
Teach me to love always.
Help me to walk in fellowship with You,
Listening to You; sit at Your feet.
Whisper Your words to me,
Oh, how gently, guiding me in Your truth.
While we are waiting for Your blessing,
Lord, in our hearts be King today.
Help us to live for you ev’ry moment,
List’ning to what You say.
May we not stray from your word within us,
Help us obey You, Lord, in all things,
Walking each moment, Lord, in Your presence,
Our offerings to You bring.
Help us to love You, Lord, our master;
Be an example of Your love,
Helping the hurting, lift up the fallen,
Showing them Your great love.
Teach them to love You, follow You always,
Bearing their cross and turning from sin;
Walking in daily fellowship with You,
Making You Lord and King.
John 3:19-21 ESV
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The Light Has Come
And this is the judgment (ruling, decision, verdict, decree): The light has come into the world. The Light is Jesus Christ. Light is also instruction, teaching, and doctrine. Light is also truth and righteousness. And light exposes evil for the evil that it is but it also reveals truth and righteousness. It reveals what is wrong in contrast to what is right. It lets us know the path we are not to follow as well as it shows us the way we are to follow.
Jesus Christ did come into the world as a baby born to a human mother but with God as his Father. So when Jesus lived on this earth he was fully God and fully human. And when he was around age 30 he began his public ministry which lasted about 3 years before he was put to death on that cross. And Jesus brought truth and righteousness and knowledge and understanding into the world, but most people rejected him.
And the reason that most rejected Jesus and the truth that he brought to them is because they loved the darkness (sin, wickedness) rather than the light (truth, righteousness) because their works (deeds, actions) were evil. And it is the same reason why most people today reject Jesus Christ and his gospel of salvation because they love their sin and they do not want to give it up in order to follow Jesus in obedience.
And this includes many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are buying into a cheapened form of the gospel which is a diluted half-truth (false) gospel message which does not require them to die to sin and to self and to submit to the Lordship of Christ and to walk in obedience to him. So they “believe” in another Jesus and a different gospel than that of the Scriptures because then they can continue living in habitual sin, only now guilt free, and then they can still claim heaven as their eternal destiny, or so they think.
Hating the Light
Now, notice that this does not say that everyone who does not believe in Jesus hates the Light (Jesus Christ and his righteousness), but it says that everyone doing (practicing) evil (sin, wickedness) hates the Light and does not come to the Light. So this includes many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still walking in (practicing) sin. If sin is what you practice, and you deliberately and habitually commit the same sins over again, in deliberate defiance of God’s commands, then you hate Jesus Christ.
For to love God/Jesus is to obey him and his commands, and if we deliberately and habitually do not obey him we do not love him and we do not know him and we do not have eternal life with him. For we can’t hate Jesus and love Jesus at the same time. We can’t embrace evil and embrace righteousness at the same time. If we love one we hate the other. We have to choose. We can’t continue in sin and have the hope of heaven, too.
And so if you do not come to the Light because you hate the Light because the Light exposes the evil that you are doing in secret (usually), that means that your profession of faith in Jesus Christ, if you are making one, is null and void. It does not exist. For it means that you never truly came to the Light but you just made a show of doing so while you withheld yourself from actually dying with Christ to sin and being born again of his Spirit.
All of it was just for show to impress others or to find acceptance and approval of others or perhaps for more nefarious purposes such as those who masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness but who are truly of Satan and who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. So you pretend to be a follower of Jesus in order to trick and to trap the sheep in your snare so that you can lead them away from the Light to remain in the darkness.
Those Who Come to the Light
Now, we can do nothing in and of ourselves, in our own flesh, to be approved of God or to be accepted by him. There is nothing we can do in our own flesh to earn or to deserve our own salvation. So, when this says that whoever does (is practicing) what is true comes to the Light, it is not suggesting that we are able to do right in God’s eyes without having first come to the Light. But it is true that those who are living in God’s righteousness by his grace and in his power are those who come to the Light. We love Jesus and his word and so daily we come to him.
Also, we don’t come to the Light in order to make a show of righteousness or to look good in front of others. This is not about looking good in front of others. We come to the Light (Jesus Christ and his righteousness) because we love Jesus and we love his truth and righteousness, and because we want to obey him and to live for him and to do what pleases him because we are so eternally grateful for all that he has done for us.
And the result should be that it should be clearly seen that the works that we do, which are of God and which are done in his Spirit and in his power and strength, under his direction, have been carried out in God and not in our flesh. But not everyone is going to see that because not everyone, not even everyone professing to be Christians knows what that looks like because they are so used to seeing people operating in the flesh.
But again, we don’t do what we do for God to be seen of men or to be approved by men, but we do what we do in obedience to our Lord out of love for our Lord and out of a desire to do what pleases him. And we also do what we do because we love other humans and we can see what sin does to their lives and so we want to get to them the message that Jesus Christ made a way for them to come out from their addiction to sin where they can now walk in freedom from addiction and in holiness and righteousness.
So, whether or not other humans acknowledge that the works that we do in the Spirit of God are actually of God and not of our flesh, it should not impact one way or another what we do. We should continue in Christ in following him in his ways and in doing what he says to do and in loving others with his love and in sharing the truth of the gospel and in exposing the lies of the enemy because it is the right thing to do, and because we care what happens to people and we care about where they spend eternity.
When in The Stillness
An Original Work / September 26, 2011
When in the stillness of this moment,
Speak to me, Lord, I humbly pray.
Be my desire, set me on fire,
Teach me to love always.
Help me to walk in fellowship with You,
Listening to You; sit at Your feet.
Whisper Your words to me,
Oh, how gently, guiding me in Your truth.
While we are waiting for Your blessing,
Lord, in our hearts be King today.
Help us to live for you ev’ry moment,
List’ning to what You say.
May we not stray from your word within us,
Help us obey You, Lord, in all things,
Walking each moment, Lord, in Your presence,
Our offerings to You bring.
Help us to love You, Lord, our master;
Be an example of Your love,
Helping the hurting, lift up the fallen,
Showing them Your great love.
Teach them to love You, follow You always,
Bearing their cross and turning from sin;
Walking in daily fellowship with You,
Making You Lord and King.
