Light in the Darkness

- November 23, 2011

I was sitting on the bus doing my bible reading plan. The passage I read was this:
¹ In the beginning the Word already existed.
      The Word was with God,
      and the Word was God.
² He existed in the beginning with God.
³ God created everything through him,
      and nothing was created except through him.
⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created,
      and his life brought light to everyone.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
      and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1: 1-5, NLT)
I have read this dozens of times, like everyone else. I have tried to understand the part about ‘the Word’, the Word being Jesus and how that actually works. The thing is that I got stuck on that and didn’t read the part about how the light shines into the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.
I was awestruck. The darkness can’t extinguish the light. It is a truth that resonates with me. No matter how dark I think things are, God still shines through. There is nothing or no one that can stop that.
Then I continued reading:
⁶ God sent a man, John the Baptist, ⁷ to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. ⁸ John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. ⁹ The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
¹⁰ He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
¹⁴ So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
¹⁵ John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
¹⁶ From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God,^] is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. (John 1: 6-16, NLT)
I was awestruck by a God who would come down to earth to be light in my darkness. It was a great moment of communion with God… on a Winnipeg Transit bus before 7am.