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Chapter 8
HIS LIGHT FOR YOUR DARKNESS
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
JOHN 8:12 NIV
71 People of the Truth
Lies are the devil’s nuclear weapons. He has no truth in him. He’s the father of lies (John 8:44). He camouflages his untruths as half-truths and 90% truths.
Daily you swallow them. Few of them are obvious. Not everything you believe fervently is true.
Truth no longer corresponds to reality. Milk takes the shape of its container. Likewise, truth takes the shape of its human container.
You’re told that one hundred different persons’ definitions of love are all true. It’s okay if they contradict one another. Truth is whatever you want it to be.
God hasn’t departed from the reality standard. He’s the Judge Judy of the Universe!
For now, people can play word games. They can twist the truth into convenient shapes. They can ignore or redefine reality. But they can’t escape it or the consequences of their actions. Calling black white and wrong right doesn’t make it so.
On Judgment Day you’ll have to explain every careless word (Matthew 12:36). Everything hidden will be uncovered before God’s eyes.
You must give account to Him (Hebrews 4:13). No one will tell Him the truth is relative! Truth is the basis for His judgments (Romans 2:2).
Speaking the truth about God’s ways requires that what others think doesn’t sway you (Matthew 22:16). Truth came to earth through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
When you live in it, you’ve nothing to hide (John 3:21). Knowing it sets you free (John 8:32).
The Holy Spirit guides you on the path of truth (John 16:13). You’re made more like Jesus through God’s word which is truth (John 17:17).
Jesus came into the world to reveal the truth. But not everyone is a fan of it (John 18:37).
False teachers distort it (Acts 20:30). Wicked people suppress it (Romans 1:18).
Those who reject it are self-seeking. They choose to follow evil rather than the truth (Romans 2:8).
Love rejoices with it (1 Corinthians 13:6). The church is the pillar and foundation of it (1 Timothy 3:15). You can’t separate knowing it from believing it (1Timothy 4:3). You purify yourself by obeying it (1 Peter 1:22).
What lies from the devil have you detected since you became a believer?
Read John 3.
72 How to Glorify Jesus
Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12). He shines in the darkness (John 1:5).
Empowered by the Spirit, He completed the work the Father gave Him to do (John 4:34).
He told His followers that their light was to shine before the world so that others would see their good deeds and glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14–16). Your light shines when you perform the good deeds God gives you to do (Ephesians 2:10).
“You” and “your” in Matthew 5:14–16 are plural. Don’t think of Christians individually shining like fireflies on a summer night. Picture the northern lights with no obvious point source. Matthew describes a “group shine.”
The power supply for your light is the Holy Spirit. His purpose is to glorify Jesus (John 16:14). He supplies the current for your light bulb. You have unique gifts to contribute to increasing the wattage of the group lighting project.
The volume of virtuous deeds done and the measure of love among the members of the “village of light” determine the light’s brightness. The intensity of the light is dynamic.
The faith and obedience of individual members affect the waxing and waning of its brilliance. They determine the degree to which it shines like Jesus.
The individual lights keep changing. People die. Some move away. Some fall away. Some get weary of doing good.
New believers join the congregation. Believers transfer to the church from other churches. The church must replace those who minister to others generation after generation.
New lights are continually blinking on. These new believers must change how they think, talk, and behave to glorify Jesus. The church must deploy them in ministries that fit their divine designs, or the group’s shine will diminish.
The key questions aren’t, “How many of us are there?” and “How much money do we have?” It’s “How bright is our light?”
We shine brightest when we draw people to faith in Christ, disciple them in Jesus’ ways, and deploy them in the ministry for which God designed them. All in a loving atmosphere.
What will you do to draw people to Jesus, disciple them in the faith, and deploy them in ministry to keep the light of Jesus shining through your church generation after generation? Read John 4.
73 Falling off the Wagon
Do you know the origin of the expression “falling off the wagon”? The wagon was a water wagon drawn by horses. People used it to wet unpaved streets to reduce the dust in the late 19th century. Falling off the wagon means returning to drinking alcohol from drinking water.1
You face “falling off the wagon.” It includes going off a diet that helped you lose weight, quitting an exercise program that improved your health, re-engaging in a previously kicked habit, and much more.
Like the pull of a magnet on a nail, the attraction of the long-haul injurious, short-term enjoyment never stops. It’s a dark, destructive gravitational force.
It’s a moral black hole from which no one escapes unless God intervenes. Those who get away feel its relentless tug to return.
In Numbers 14:4 the Israelites decided it was better to return to Egypt than to trust God. They refused to believe they could conquer the land He had promised them.
In Egypt, they had been brick-making slaves. They didn’t remember all the hardships of bondage.
Jesus’ followers face the “returning to Egypt” temptation. They easily forget the oppressive chains that previously confined them. They don’t recall the depths of misery from which God delivered them. The old ways powerfully draw them back, like a long-lost two-faced friend.
Trusting God is hard. Returning to the deadly but familiar paths of yesteryear is easy.
I’ve noticed many who make professions of faithfulness to Christ and a local church quickly forsake both. In a Bible study, a friend once said he’d never abandon Christ and His church no matter what others do. He hasn’t. I’m with him. How about you?
What old ways of thinking and behaving still haunt you? What is your plan to keep from returning to them? Who can help you? Read John 5.
74 Protecting Your Heart
Your eyes are your heart’s bulletin board. The harder you think, the bigger your pupils become.1 They enlarge when you look at something you love.2
Your heart stores what your eyes see. (Deuteronomy 4:9). It impacts your feelings (Deuteronomy 28:67).
Your heart belongs to what your eyes delight in (Proverbs 23:26, Ezekiel 24:25). Your eyes both program your heart and reflect its thoughts and feelings. Like a keyboard and screen, they register both input and output.
Eyes that lust after God-substitutes grieve Him. They indicate a heart that’s not fully His (Ezekiel 6:9).
Chasing after the lusts of your own heart and eyes is spiritual adultery (Numbers 15:39). God repeatedly condemns haughty eyes and proud hearts (Psalm 101:5; 131:1, Isaiah 10:12). In fact, haughty eyes are one of the seven things He hates (Proverbs 6:17).
What you see affects your mood, temper, and even how generous and kind you are to others.3 If you don’t control what you see, your life is like a house with doorways but no doors. Whosoever and whatsoever will enter. That won’t end well.
Wise choices are like a door that separates what enters your life from what doesn’t. The foolish view everything that’s viewable. They never avert their eyes.
Not controlling what enters the eye-gate pollutes the springs of your heart. This certainly applies to pornography in all its forms. If not looking away when you should always produce severe chest pains, you’d do a better job of protecting your eyes and heart. So would I.
You need a new heart and eyes that thrive in the light, not the darkness. Closed eyes are associated with a calloused heart (Matthew 13:15).
God promises a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). He gifts the ability to see spiritual realities (Ephesians 1:18). His word gives joy to the new heart and light to the eyes (Psalm 19:8).
Paul prays that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened to know all you have in Christ (Ephesians 1:18). You protect your heart by limiting what your eyes see!
In what situations do you need to do a better job of averting your eyes? Will you start today? Read John 6.
75 All Religions Are Not Equal (1)
Imagine a steaming bowl of tomato soup in front of you. To the left of the bowl is a fork. To the right is a spoon. Which will you use to eat the soup?
For about 2,000 years Christianity has been the only God-designed “vehicle” to take people from earth to heaven. Getting people there is difficult.
Many believe all religions lead to the same destination. The truth is that all except Christianity have a serious flaw. They don’t solve your most pressing spiritual problem.
You can see the dark, downward pull of sin at work in others with 20-20 clarity. It’s so obvious!
Their pride is as glaring as the sun. Their pettiness is disgusting. They drive like idiots. Their kids are a mess. They are so self-centered.
When it comes to seeing your faults, however, you’re legally blind! What about your pride, pettiness, driving habits, kids, and self-centeredness?
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, I can’t see myself at all!” Why are you so blind to your faults?
Sin dominates you. You’re like an alcoholic who insists he is perfectly in control of his drinking. Sin has you by the throat. But you won’t admit it.
Your natural rebelliousness seems like no big deal. Self-rule seems virtuous. Independence from God results in “sin-dependence.”
A foolish combination of independence, self-sufficiency, and imagined invulnerability sank the Titanic. Its builders underestimated the destructive power of icebergs.
Humans consistently misjudge the sinking power of sin. According to Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and according to Romans 6:23, “the wages of sins is death.”
Imagine wearing glasses that distort everything. Airplanes look like bluebirds and vice versa. Trees look like weeds and weeds seem to be mature oaks.
Black is white and white is black. Girls look like guys and guys like girls. Your view of the world doesn’t correspond to reality at all. Your “sin-fogged” glasses are to blame.
How are your devotional disciplines helping you see yourself as God sees you?
Read John 7.
76 All Religions Are Not Equal (2)
The teachings of the Enlightenment of the 18th century are glasses that have influenced people to believe that everyone is good. They have within themselves the resources to live a moral life, manage society, and solve all their problems.1 If that were true, every day in every way civilization should be getting better.
The belief that all religions are similar arose during the Enlightenment. Supposedly, religions look different on the surface. But the deeper you go into each, the more similar they become. All are rooted in a common religious consciousness in the human heart.2
Religions share similar moral values. None approve of adultery, theft, or murder. Most religions since Confucius contain the essence of the golden rule, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 NIV).3
These 18th-century ideas were exactly wrong! Religions are most alike at the surface. Imagine ten department store Santa Clauses in a lineup. Underneath the white beards and red suits are ten different people.
Similarly, each major religious tradition has its distinct way of interpreting the world.4 Religions aren’t the same and don’t claim to be.
Religions aren’t “take your choice” belief systems that lead to heaven by different routes. They often contradict each other.
For example, Judaism rejects Jesus as the Messiah; Christianity affirms him. They can’t both be correct. Either tolerance or truth must give way.
How does that agree or disagree with your understanding of the Christian faith? Is tolerance or truth more important to you? Why? Read John 8.
77 All Religions Are Not Equal (3)
Different religions don’t believe the same basic things at all. Let’s contrast Christianity, the most common religion, with Islam, the second most common religion.
Muslims don’t believe that man is at heart a sinner or that sin wrecks man’s relationship with God.1 Christianity teaches that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV) and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 NIV).
Muslims consider Jesus a prophet but not God’s Son. Hebrews 1:1–2 (NIV), referring to Jesus, tells us that God “has spoken to us by his Son.”
Muslims say Jesus didn’t bear the world’s sins, didn’t die on the cross, and that every person must bear responsibility for personal sin. In 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, Paul wrote that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day.
Muslims teach that almost everyone will spend at least some time in hell and perhaps all eternity. The only hopes for escaping it are Allah’s will, the prayers of Mohammed and saintly Muslims, and one’s good deeds. 2
According to 1 Timothy 2:3–5, God doesn’t want anyone to spend eternity in hell. One person “goes to bat” for us before God. That person is Christ Jesus.
According to Ephesians 2:8–9, escaping hell is by God’s grace received through faith. It’s not the result of works so that no one has any room to boast before God or men. Let’s compare Islam and Christianity.
The Bible is corrupted and untrustworthy [Islam]
All scripture is God-breathed and useful (2 Timothy 3:16). [Christianity]
There is no religious assurance. [Islam]
We can know we have eternal life (1 John 5:13) [Christianity]
People can’t be sure that they’re forgiven. [Islam]
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9) [Christianity]
The Holy Spirit doesn’t live in the believer.3 [Islam]
The Holy Spirit lives in believers (Romans 8:11). [Christianity]
Why can’t Christianity and Islam both be true? Read John 9.
78 All Religions Are Not Equal (4)
In John 14:6, Jesus claimed that no one comes to the Father except through Him. No other religion supplies what He did on the cross.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NIV). “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV).
Jesus is uniquely qualified. He’s the “Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14). He was without sin (1 Peter 2:22).
He’s the only one capable of paying the penalty for your sin because He was sinless and therefore had no penalty of His own to pay. The early church worshipped Him as God.1
Jesus lifts crushing guilt off fragile human shoulders. He gives strength to conquer the passions and desires that control you like the wind turns a weathervane.
He supplies peace to replace the haunting fear of God’s condemnation. He experienced that condemnation when He took your place on the cross.
No other great religion has a savior. None has a God who personally paid the price to set His people free. No other forgives through undeserved favor alone. None has a religious leader who rose from the dead.
Henry Rowland, a brilliant American scientist, taught physics at Johns Hopkins University. At a trial where he was an expert witness, concerning his qualifications, he said, “I’m the greatest living expert on the subject under discussion.”
Jesus is the greatest living expert on truth. Through Him, God has revealed Himself in a form you can understand. He’s God’s “Show and Tell.” He lived and spoke the truth.
How do the things Jesus offers correspond to what you need in your innermost being? How does that give the ring of truth to His claims?
Read John 10.
79 All Religions Are Not Equal (5)
If Jesus is the only way to God, what about those who have never heard about Him? You can be sure that God will be just.
Genesis 18:25 asks, “Won’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” The expected answer is “Yes.”
God won’t save people because they are Methodist, Hindu, or Buddhist. All receive salvation by accepting God’s unmerited forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice in their place.
The tax collector said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” He went home with a right relationship with God (Luke 18:9–14 NIV). The key requirements are a God-given sense of need for divine mercy and trust in God to give it.1
You can’t build a road to heaven with your virtuous deeds. That’s like trying to lay some concrete four-lane highway three thousand miles long from a single wheelbarrow of cement mix.
That’s the fatal flaw of most religions. You don’t have enough building materials. The good things you’ve done for the right reasons limit it.
You can get to heaven from here, but there’s only one way. It’s narrow and steep. The good news—it’s an escalator!
God Himself constructed it at a tremendous cost. It ends in heaven. It begins with one faith step. According to Jesus, He’s the only way to get there (John 14:6).
The issue is truth, not a superiority complex. A math teacher expects her students to add two plus two and get the same answer she does.
Four is not the best answer. It’s the only right one. There’s no room for pride. No other answer will do.
Imagine a surgeon has a scalpel that hurts more than any other. It’s also the only scalpel that unfailingly cures cancer. If you had cancer, you’d submit to that scalpel, wouldn’t you?
The Christian message has never been wildly popular. The scalpel hurts before it heals.
It’s painful to admit a total inability to meet God’s right-living requirements. It’s humbling to accept His unmerited forgiveness. The stubborn fact is that trust in Christ’s substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection and no other way leads to life.
Why is Jesus being the only way to God a matter of truth rather than religious pride? Read John 11.
80 Are You Making a Lasting Difference?
My father had nine apple trees. We picked them every October. We stored their fruit in our unheated garage.
Over the winter at least one-third of the apples rotted. One year we made all the apples into applesauce and froze it.
After that, we never stored apples in the garage again. We found a way to conserve all the fruit we picked.
Not all of the fruit of your life lasts. I want mine to last. I’m guessing you want yours to last too.
Fruit comes in two varieties— the fruit of the light and the fruit of darkness (Ephesians 5:9, 11). The first endure. The second doesn’t.
Making a name for yourself rots in the garage. So do material things and earthly power. Your earthly influence can multiply and spread long after your funeral.
That’s the drumbeat of the forward march of God’s kingdom on earth. So, what is the fruit of the light that attracts and influences others, generation after generation?
By the Holy Spirit’s power, the fruit of the light is Christ-like character—love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). Such shining draws attention.
Christ-centered living in a self-centered world is the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8). It’s like a candle in the cave of the world’s darkness (Matthew 7:15–20).
Some try to extinguish it. It attracts others. It influences others to follow Jesus as you translate Him into your cultural setting (John 15:5).
It includes goodness, doing what is right, and speaking and living according to God’s truth (Ephesians 5:9). It pulses as you please the Lord by doing the good works He sets before you and getting to know Him increasingly well (Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 1:10).
It radiates when you openly profess and praise Him (Hebrews 13:15). It beams as you display wisdom, purity, peace-loving, consideration, submission, mercy, impartiality, and sincerity (James 3:17). You can make a lasting difference one hundred years from now if you live in the light today!
What motivates you to live in the light today? Read John 12.