Becoming God’s Man

John 1:5

Posted on by chgruver

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5 ESV

What is the definition of darkness? It is basically the absence of light, in physics there is no term that dictates a measurement of darkness. The term pitch black is just stating that there is absolutely zero amount of light. If you have ever been to one of those tourist attractions where you go into the caverns they usually take you to one section where they will turn out all the lights to show you what pitch black is; it is so dark that no matter how close you hold your hand to your face you are unable to see it. This is an environment that anything living in it is usually blind due to the lack of light. Now when John talks about Jesus entering into the world, he uses the imagery of light shining in the darkness. How many times have you been in a dark room and suddenly been blinded when someone turned on the lights, this was essentially what Jesus stepping into the world was like, a flare going off in a dark room. Look at it this way a child that is scared of the dark is often put at ease by a tiny night light. You see darkness cannot survive where there is even the smallest speck of light.

 

Now the darkness Christ stepped into was not a physical darkness but rather a spiritual darkness. Hearts were far from God, most people if they exhibited any form of righteousness it was self righteousness. Their motivations were to make themselves look good rather than to glorify God, and this is the natural state of man. Without Christ we are at enmity with God, our hearts are living in darkness and like the animals living in the pitch black environment we are spiritually blind; but when Christ enters our lives that darkness is dispelled and our relationship with God is restored.

 

As Christians we are called to be representatives of Christ. This means we are to ourselves become little lights shining in the darkness. We are to spread the Gospel to expose others to the light of Christ which in turn they will go and spread the light. Remember you don’t turn on a light and then stick it in the closet and close the door; you use the light for illumination in order to see where you are going or what you are doing, in much the same way our sharing the Gospel, our being lights reflecting Christ  is much the same it is to show others the way to God and the need for a Savior. So let me end with this how are you letting your light shine for others to see?

 

Proverbs 12:15

Posted on by chgruver

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15 (ESV)

This verse brings to mind two sayings which just shows how true this proverb can be.

The first phrase is “only fools rush in.” It pretty much sums up this proverb. It tends to show the brashness of a fool, in that they will act rather than to take the time to plan or even seek advice for the best course of action. Often times it is an act of pride, they believe they know best and act on that. Sure they may encounter successes but eventually this mentality will lead them to disaster.  Look at the book of Judges, one phrase that is often repeated is that “there was no king in the land and the people did what was right in their own eyes,” and the book ends telling us of how that almost led to one of the twelve tribes being completely wiped out. Then there is the story of Jephthah and his foolish and rash vow found in Judges 11. In our own lives how often has something foolish and stupid been done simply because we did it on impulse without taking the time to think about what we were planning on doing or seeking advice on our actions? I know if I think about it I can find plenty of examples in my own life.

This leads me to the second saying, “I told you so.” How often do we cringe when we hear that phrase, especially when someone is saying it to us? It is a phrase that often times expresses a sense of failure, often times after encountering numerous red flags and warnings that are ignored. It is a phrase that expresses the foolishness of pride due to the disregard of advice, and often from someone that had already gone through similar circumstances. I think of the story of Rehoboam becoming king after Solomon. He sought advice from Solomon’s counselors but not liking the advice sought advice from those he knew that would say what he wanted to hear. This foolish action ended up with Israel splitting into two nations, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, and I can imagine the one group of advisors telling Rehoboam “we told you so.”

If you look at this the root of foolishness, the root of the action of the fool is pride. Pride is actually at the root of many if not all of our sins. It is when we are stating that we know best and then act out on that belief. There is a reason that humility plays a large role in the Christian life, for when we stop focusing on ourselves and take the time to think about our actions as well as to get advice from others we grow in wisdom while refusing to let pride take control. That is not saying we will always be successful, especially in the eyes of the world, but we also won’t feel like a fool when we encounter failures either..