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Jesus: Light that Transforms

On Christmas eve, we learned about Jesus’ saving light. This week, we’ll see how that light—Jesus’ presence, love, and sacrifice—transforms the murkiest of hearts, bringing us from the darkness of the world into His powerful light.

In these verses, when John speaks of “the Word”, he means Jesus. This passage shows us that Jesus is the source of absolute life and light. He delivers us from darkness by transforming our nature from death and darkness to life in His light.

Often when we think of darkness, we associate it with ignorance; we think of people who are “in the dark” as those who live in primitive savagery or who live according to pre-scientific superstitions. When Scripture talks of darkness, it’s referring to a system of immorality in which sin and selfishness prevail. Spiritual darkness blocks the light of God’s truth. Spiritual darkness holds us captive in suffering and destruction because of ignorance and disobedience to God’s will.

While moments of darkness can feel exhilarating as long as they are controlled and temporary, living in permanent darkness is a very foolish and fatal choice. Sadly, we often make this choice when we deliberately ignore God’s counsel and guidance.

Question: In what ways do you see people around you living in darkness? What areas of your own life are you choosing to keep dark (i.e. ignoring God’s instruction)?

Verse 1 of this passage affirms our identity as God’s children; it challenges us to live a life that imitates God. Verse 2 instructs us to pursue a life of love and sacrifice—one that both pleases God and benefits others. Verses 3 through 7 warn us about the temporary and eternal dangers of keeping the lights off; it warns of the selfishness that we’re prone to when we choose to ignore God as well as the consequences of such a choice: separation from God. When we speak of Hell and Heaven, we do so by speaking of what’s lacking from them. Hell lacks God—His presence and love—while Heaven lacks tears, pain, and death. Finally, verses 8 through 11 exhort us to live in the light, intentionally fleeing from darkness and choosing to do what pleases God.

Theses verses not only show us how to live but also why we’re able to do so. We are not who we used to be. By the grace of God, we’re transformed when we are transferred from darkness to light.

We can live as children of life because of Christ. If we are in Christ, then we are no longer slaves stuck to the pattern of making darkness-based choices. Because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we no longer have to live in darkness’ bondage—we are free from the things, people, places, and memories that have kept us far from God. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we don’t have to allow death, desperation and hopelessness steer our lives into constant disappointment and emptiness. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are now able to make the choice to live in the light that transforms, purifies and makes us new.

Christ’s sacrifice empowers us to turn away from darkness and live in His light. While we can still choose to live in sin, we no longer have to. We now have the choice to live an empowering, renewing, and bright life.

Question: How has your relationship with Jesus empowered you to turn away from your old, fatal, dark way of life and to a new life of light? What binding habits has Christ freed you from?

But just how do we live as children of the light? To live in Christ’s light, we must first and foremost believe in Jesus. We must believe that He, as the very Son of God, died on the cross for our sins and accept that He is our Savior. Once we have done this, we can live as children of light through the following four practices.

First, we must constantly center our identity in Christ. Our identity is the number one area that darkness will attack in order to enslave us to sin and destroy our lives. It’s not enough to embrace who we are in Christ occasionally or when it feels right. Rather, we must constantly embrace that we are redeemed and are called to reflect God’s light to the world. Our world often tempts us to let it define who we are—we’re told to let other people’s standards, our past experiences, or our feelings define our worth. We mustn’t fall into this temptation but instead determine who we are by our identity in Christ.

Question: Take a few minutes to reflect on who you think you are. Are these descriptions determined by God or the world? What steps can you take this week to center your identity in Christ?

Second, we need to confront the darkness in our own lives. Whether it’s a habit, thought, attitude, activity or relationship that pulls us into sin and brings destruction into our lives, we must humbly confront it and honestly repent from it.

When we ignore dark, sinful ways in our lives, we are fracturing our relationship with God and with one another. To heal and restore these relationships, we must do a 180—repenting from what we’ve done wrong.

Third, to live as children of light we must counteracting the pull of darkness. We do this by doing good, living righteously and walking in truth. Jeremiah 29.11 tells us, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” We counteract the attractiveness and power of darkness by choosing to trust and obey God’s plan and direction for our lives.

Finally, we live as children of the light by calling out and exposing darkness for what it is. We throw aside political correctness that we may speak truth and expose darkness for what it really is: sin that separates from a God who is Light.

We must first and foremost call out and expose darkness in our own lives. When we begin with ourselves, we are then in a good position to humbly, patiently, gently, and lovingly call out darkness in the lives of those around us.

Question: How are you intentionally turning away from darkness and to God’s light? How are you shining God’s light into the lives of those around you?

These changes won’t happen automatically but must be practices that we choose daily. However, because our spiritual nature has been transformed from darkness to light, we are no longer working against our nature but rather with it. In John 12.46, Jesus tells us that He has “come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in [Him] should stay in darkness.”