John 20: Reflecting His Light
“But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name.” John 20:31 (NLT)
Jesus Christ gave His life for us that He may offer His life to us. When we rediscover who Jesus is, the True Light, we discover that only He is capable of living the Christian life because He is the Christian life. As John said of himself in this gospel, we are not the light, but Jesus is! We are simply reflectors of that light as it shines in and through us. The Christian life is so much more than a set of doctrinal beliefs or creeds. This was the point of John’s Gospel which hopefully you have understood by now. He writes that we may know who Jesus is and who we may be in Him.
Belief is the first step toward experiencing the life that Jesus alone can give us when we put our faith in Him. The point of believing Jesus is who He says He enables us to experience His life, now, clothing Himself with our redeemed humanity! This is the power of the resurrection! It is what separates Christianity from every dead, lifeless religion. It is what makes Christianity so dynamic! Christianity is not our best effort to imitate Jesus. It’s not about our trying harder to live a holy life or produce some imitation light apart from Him. It’s the simplicity of trusting Jesus to live the life He lived then, lived now by Him in us! What does that require of us? Availability! To experience that life that has no other explanation but Jesus living His life in us and through us requires us to be restfully available and instantly obedient to Him and His Word. As reflectors of His light, we must align our lives to be in His light, to let His light shine through us.
The Christian life is so much more than a change of destination from hell to heaven. The true Christian life is not just heaven one day, but Christ here and now! When Jesus died, He not only died to change my destination when I put my faith in Him, but then, risen from the dead, He comes by His Holy Spirit to change my character. Becoming a Christian begins the process of learning to be the Christian I have become, which is a lifetime of allowing Christ to live in me and do His work through me. It means I keep following the light every moment of every day. This is the Christian life. This was John’s great desire for us to know in recording his gospel.
“But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name.” John 20:31 (NLT)
Read John 20 and experience the risen Lord as you continue to follow the light.