Dial-a-Devotion -- January 23rd

In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund.  Our text for today is John 8:12 which reads:

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Have you ever been in the dark?  Not just a little dark, but really, really dark?  Last night I was driving back from Knob Noster on Highway 23 and it was really dark outside.  There wasn’t a moon and the only light I saw was coming from my headlights and the occasional dusk-to-dawn light on a farm.  Occasionally I got to a spot where if I had turned my headlights off I wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all.

Darkness like this can be pretty scary.  I’m pretty sure it is because of the unknown.  When you’re in the darkness you can’t see where you’re going, you can’t see what is around you, and you can’t see if there is anyone there.  Because you can’t see any of these things you can’t be sure whether or not you’re going to be safe.  During my trip last night I was thankful to be in a car and to have working headlights. 

In our lives we have another kind of darkness that plagues us.  One that won’t be overcome with headlights or flashlights.  When we’re born, we’re born into the darkness of sin.  It is a darkness that we’re not able to get out of on our own.  In fact, our sinful selves actually enjoy the darkness.  We like our sins because they’re fun and they’re comfortable.  While they might be fun and comfortable, they separate us eternally from God and his love. 

Without God and his love, we would be destined to spending eternity in our sin and in the darkness of sin.  But God in his great love decided to send his son Jesus into the world to rescue us from our sins.  Jesus was able to do this because he is perfect and in our text for today he tells us that he is the light of the world.  He is the one who is able to break the darkness and bring us his light.  He promises that whoever follows him won’t walk in the darkness anymore but will have the light of life. 

When Jesus died on the cross he won for us the forgiveness of sins and the new life that allows us to live in the light of his love and no longer in the scary darkness of sin and death. 

Let us pray:

Dear Father in Heaven, Thank you for sending your son Jesus, the light of the world, into the world to save us from our sins and bring us out of darkness into your marvelous light.  Help us to share this light with those around us so that they may enjoy the light of your love too. We ask these things in Jesus’ name,  Amen