September 4 – I am the Light

I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness. He will have the light that gives life. John 8:12 (Life Application Study Bible)

Jesus Tells Us: I created Adam and Eve to walk side by side with Me. I loved walking and talking with them in the garden, before the evil one tricked them. Ever since that time, man has had a huge, dark emptiness in his heart, an emptiness that only My Presence can fill. Some people try to fill that hole with the things of this world, popularity, money, even drugs or alcohol. Other people try good things, such as teaching others or being a volunteer, hoping that goodness will make them whole. But no matter how good you are, only I can fill that emptiness. Live close to Me. The Garden of Eden is no more, but the garden of your heart is alive and well. Walk with Me in the garden of your heart, letting Me fill the emptiness. In this way, I can live in the world through you!

Jesus Concludes: Together we will push back the darkness, for I am the Light of the world.

John 8:12; Psalm 32:7; Genesis 3:8-9

Footnotes John 8:12 Jesus was speaking in the treasury, the part of the temple where the offerings would be given (8:20) and where candles burned to symbolize the pillar of fire that had led the people of Israel through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22). In this context, Jesus called himself the Light of the World. The pillar of fire represented God’s presence, protection, and guidance. Likewise, Jesus brings God’s presence, protection, and guidance. Is he the light of your world? What does it mean to follow Jesus? As a soldier follows his captain, we should follow Jesus, our commander. As a slave follows his master, we should follow Jesus, our Lord. As we follow the advice of a trusted counselor, we should follow Jesus’s commands to us in scripture. As we follow national laws, we should follow the laws of the kingdom of heaven.

Passage Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Footnotes Psalm 32:5-7 By confessing his sin, David stopped trying to hide in guilt. When Nathan the prophet exposed him, he felt guilty for breaking God’s law, and ashamed for dishonoring God’s name before the people and the royal household. If we think we can hide from God, we will experience no relief. When David had been forgiven, God became his hiding place from guilt and shame. If you struggle with remorse for past sins, ask God to surround your heart and mind with his love and to protect you from negative and destructive thoughts. God will surround you with songs of victory.

Passage Genesis 3:8-9 8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man, “where are you?”

Footnotes Genesis 3:8-9 These verses show God’s desire to have fellowship with us. They also show why we are afraid to have fellowship with him. Adam and Eve hid from God when they heard him approaching. God wanted to be with them, but because of their sin, they were afraid to show themselves. Sin had broken their close relationship with God, just as it has broken ours. But Jesus Christ, God’s Son, opens the way for us to renew our fellowship with him. God longs to be with us. He actively offers us his unconditional love. Our natural response is fear, because we feel we can’t live up to his standards. But understanding that he loves us, regardless of our faults, can help remove that dread. 

Jesus Tells us is from the Jesus Calling 365 Devotions for kids.

THE WORLD…we see history

Abraham Lincoln. The day the nation felt clean.

Abraham Lincolns staff brought him a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.

New Year’s Day 1863 In Washington. Abraham Lincoln’s staff brought him a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, when President Lincoln suggested a change in the superscription. While the correction was made, he hosted a large reception, and it wasn’t until midafternoon that he entered his office to sign the document. As he picked up the pen, he noticed his hand was trembling. Puzzled at first, he recalled he had just shaken hands with hundreds of people. Relaxing his arm, he affixed his signature and by evening the news was traveling by wire across the land. Civil Rights activist Frederick Douglass was among three thousand people, mostly African Americans, who gathered at the Tremont (Baptist) Temple in Boston. The crowd’s attitude was, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Douglass described the excited tension of the crowd as everyone was waiting for “the first flash of electric wires” with news of Lincoln’s proclamation. Many in the crowd, he said, were pessimistic and cynical. They were ready to stage a demonstration and speak their mind because they had been disappointed before. But others were hopeful and truly believed the day of liberation had come. “Every moment of waiting chilled our hopes and strengthened our fears,” Douglass recalled.

A line of messengers was established between the telegraph office and the platform of Tremont Temple, and the time was occupied with brief speeches. But speaking or listening to speeches was not the thing for which the people had come together. We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky, which should rend the fetters of four million slaves. We were watching, as it were, by the dim light of the stars, for the dawn of a new day. For some reason, the news was delayed. Eight o’clock came with no word. Still, the people waited. Nine o’clock. Shadows and sadness began to intrude on the spirit of the night. Ten o’clock came, “when patience was well-nigh exhausted, and suspense was becoming agony.”

Suddenly a man, “I think it was judge Russell”, recalled Douglass, pushed his way through the crowd and shouted, “it is coming! It is one of the wires!” the crowd went wild, shouting, weeping, praying, singing, roaring with joy and gladness until every voice was exhausted.