“Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.”
John 12:44-48 NLT
If there was ever a spiritual stick and carrot, this was it. Jesus couldn’t have been clearer. He was effectively saying to the people listening to Him, that if they believed that He was the Son of God and believed in what He said, and trusted in Him in the process, then they would be lifted out of their dark life of sin and instead would be able to enjoy His light-filled presence for all eternity. Jesus said that the world was a dark place because of the sin and evil that prevailed, in spite of all the religiosity, sacrifices and so on. Paul summed up the problem in his second letter to Timothy – 2 Timothy 3:5, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” The problem was that the Jewish people believed they were safe because of their ancestry, that they traced all the way back to Abraham. So they stumbled around in the dark thinking that they were in fact in the light.
But Jesus went on to say that He had not come to judge the world at this time, because His mission was to save the world. He repeated what He had earlier said to Nicodemus, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17). But then He warned the crowd about the judgement to come, “But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken”. At this point, anyone hearing Jesus’ message became accountable to God, and that accountability has extended throughout history right up to the present day. One day all the disobedient hearers of the words of Jesus will have to stand before Him and explain why they didn’t believe and trust in Him. It would make no difference if the person standing before Jesus was a descendant of Abraham. The people of that day, and people ever since, may think that they can defer the problem until some time in the future, but inevitably there will come a day when they will stand before Jesus.
We pilgrims are a people living in the light. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father”. We are light shiners, true LED’s (Light Emitting Disciples), in a dark and hopeless world.
Dear Father God. You are the Power that makes our lights shine before men. Please help us to stay connected each and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 