MINUTE MEDITATIONS
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light
and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” John 3:19-20
No one
likes to have his deeds exposed as evil and wrong. Rather, we would prefer to justify our actions
and keep our sins and shortcomings hidden and out of sight. It is for this very reason that people do not
come to Jesus, the light of the world.
To come
into the presence of Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God in human flesh, is to come into the light; for Jesus lived a holy
life and He teaches us what true holiness is.
The light reveals our utter sinfulness and failure to measure up and
keep God’s commandments, even if our failure is in the thoughts and attitudes
of our heart—consider Jesus’ Sermon on
the Mount and His many rebukes to those who were outwardly righteous in His
day!
In our
day, people reject Jesus and do not come to Him because they do not want to
face up to the fact of their own sinfulness and shortcomings. They don’t want to hear that even their best
righteousness is like a filthy rag in God’s eyes (cf. Isaiah 64:6). Nor do they want to repent of their evil ways
and turn to Jesus for forgiveness and for His help and strength to amend their
ways in accord with God’s holy Word!
Thus, they stand condemned for refusing to come to Jesus, the light of
the world and their only hope of salvation.
Instead of coming into the light and admitting and acknowledging their
utter sinfulness and turning to Jesus and His shed blood for cleansing and
forgiveness, they turn away from the light and continue on in darkness!
This is
why church services in which God’s Word is faithfully proclaimed are so poorly
attended these days. People do not want
to hear the truth! They do not want to
have their sins exposed for what they are!
And they do not want to repent and turn to Jesus for cleansing and a new
life!
O dear Lord Jesus, the very light of the world, shine into my heart, expose my sin, and cleanse me through
Your shed blood. Amen.
[Scripture quotations are taken from the New
King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1994 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]