Stepping in the Light

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Isaiah 9:2

In chapter four of his gospel, Matthew quotes the passage above as a prophecy concerning the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. John chapter one speaks of Jesus being “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” (John 1:9). In John 8:12 and 9:5, Jesus said of Himself, “I am the light of the world.” The passage above describes people who were walking in darkness. From the day that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, the world has truly languished in spiritual darkness. People are grappling with questions that they cannot answer. Where did we come from? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Jesus is the answer to all of these questions. He was the active member of the Godhead in creation. “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made,” (John 1:3). He is our Creator, He formed us from the ground, and He was the One Who breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7). The reason we are here is to seek after God and to give Him praise. This is what brings true meaning to life. Once we understand Who Jesus is, we receive the spiritual light we need to walk in this world. Proverbs chapter four tells us that “the way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Jesus is that Great Light!

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:1-5

Isaiah was a prophet who ministered during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah in Jerusalem. He was a good man and had been used by God to pen the first five chapters of Isaiah before the events recorded here at the beginning of chapter six. But when Isaiah saw this vision of God upon His throne, he said, “Woe is me!” Isaiah probably was respected by the people around him. He probably thought he was doing well and that he was a pretty good person, but when he saw the Lord, he realized how sorely lacking he really was. Isaiah decried himself as being “undone” and “a man of unclean lips.” We have a tendency to focus on building our reputation and trying to be sure that everyone knows how good we are, but what we really need is to catch a glimpse of the holiness of God.

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9

Doing anything for a long enough period of time will make you tired. The Christian’s work is likened here to working in a field. A farmer has a lot of work to do and a long time to wait before he can bring in the harvest. He must clear the land, plow and disk the fields, create the rows, plant the crops, cultivate and weed the plants, irrigate the farmland, and patiently wait for months before he will see the fruit of his labor. There is no one to supervise him and nothing to motivate him other than the promise of the harvest by and by. The farmer’s workday goes from before sunup to long after sundown. Timing is essential, and a knowledge of the different types of insects and diseases that pose a danger to his crops is vital. He must remain constantly vigilant to ensure that these threats do not overcome his fields and destroy the harvest. As he is investing all of this back-breaking labor, the farmer receives nothing. He is not being paid an hourly wage. There are no benefits to ensure that his needs are met during the growing season. He must live on what he has laid by in store from last year’s harvest, which creates an additional financial pressure throughout the summer months. What keeps the farmer going? He continues to give everything he has because of the promise of the harvest. Reaping time will bring a great bounty, and the reward will make all of his labors worthwhile. Paul was saying, “Christian, don’t be weary in well doing. Reaping time is just ahead!”

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

Fruit is something that grows naturally. When a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of them. The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19). The presence of the Holy Spirit within us naturally bears fruit in our lives. We can recognize the work of the Spirit of God within us when we begin to see the attributes listed in the passage above manifested in attitudes and actions. As Christians, we should be able to identify these characteristics in our interactions with others as well as in our thoughts and prayers. Fruit grows naturally, but it also grows gradually. If you were looking at an apple tree that had no fruit on it, you would not see a completely ripe apple suddenly appear. If you passed by the tree every day, one day you might notice a tiny apple sprouting from one of the branches. A few days later, you might notice a few more. Those apples would not be very impressive at first, and they would not taste very good if you were to pick one and eat it prematurely, but if you were willing to wait until the end of the growing season, you would have a harvest of delicious apples that you could enjoy. If the list in the passage above is discouraging to you because you see very little of this fruit in your life, don’t despair. Try spending a little more time in God’s Word and prayer and be patient as the Holy Spirit causes His fruit to begin to grow.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Galatians 4:4-5

There was a certain time when Christ was to be born. The coming of the Messiah was awaited for hundreds and thousands of years. The people of Israel grew weary of waiting and many times were in despair, but God knew exactly when that time would come. Jesus came to redeem us from our sin and to free us from the consequences we deserved for breaking God’s law. He came exactly at the right time, and He accomplished exactly what He came to do. This is a tremendous blessing for all of us who have been born after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to know that we can have redemption through His blood.

In a similar fashion, God has a plan for each of our lives. He has placed us here exactly at the right time in order for us to accomplish the work that He has for us to do, but we must be willing to make ourselves available to Him. Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Jesus knew why He came and was careful to do His Father’s will. God has placed us here to share the love of Christ with everyone we can. Pray that the Lord will enable you to encourage someone today.

“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Galatians 3:6-9

Abraham was not perfect. There were many times that his faith was weak, and there were times that he did things that he should not have done, but Abraham is definitely revered in the Bible as a righteous person. He has been called the friend of God, the father of the faithful, and the father of the nation of Israel. Generation after generation has looked to him as the ultimate example of faith, but he definitely was not without fault. In the passage above, we see that he was counted righteous because of his faith. Perhaps the greatest example of faith in Abraham’s life was when he took his son Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice him on the altar as God had instructed. Abraham and Sarah had waited for so many years to have the son that God had promised to them, and now God had commanded Abraham to sacrifice him. Abraham’s faith had faltered at times in the past, but that day he demonstrated that he believed that God would keep His promise. We need the same kind of faith. God has promised us salvation through the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Our faith must rest upon God’s promise in order for us to be counted righteous.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Jesus died on a cross in order to pay for the sins of the world. When Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ,” did he mean that he was alive or dead on the cross? We see the answer in the next phrase, “nevertheless I live.” We can understand Paul to mean that he was dead. How could he be both dead and alive? Paul was referring to what we call the old nature and the new nature. We are born with our carnal nature, the flesh, but we receive the new spiritual nature when we are born again. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We often apply this passage to the things we do, but it isn’t limited to our actions. It says, “all things are become new.” The attitudes and desires of the new creature are different as well as the actions. In our text above, Paul was saying that his carnal nature was dead, but his new spiritual nature was alive. In Romans 6:11-12 Paul said, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Paul is telling us that the way to conquer sin is to count ourselves among the dead in the flesh, but alive to God spiritually. This is what it means to be crucified with Christ.

“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Ecclesiastes 11:6

The instruction in this verse is about consistent, thorough, indiscriminate effort. The picture this verse brings to mind is one of a farmer who has a very large field that needs to be seeded. Some parts of the field will bring forth more abundantly than others, but when the field is freshly plowed it all looks the same. The farmer cannot always tell by the shades of color in the dirt which areas will be most productive this year. If he could, he might be tempted to skip the areas that will not bring forth much fruit. In life, we can’t always tell which endeavors will be successful. We go from one responsibility to the next, not knowing which will be productive and which will fail. Solomon is telling us that we need to give our best to each task all day long because we never know which one will bring forth a great result.

Jesus used the example of a sower to teach us about sharing the gospel with others. In His parable, the sower sowed everywhere, even on the pathways. When we go out to share the gospel, we should share it with everyone. We need not look at a situation and try to predetermine whether the people will be receptive to the plan of salvation. There is no way to tell who will listen and receive Christ, so everyone needs to hear.

“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” Ecclesiastes 7:10

Is there a time in your life that you would like to go back to? Perhaps there was a time in your youth that you would like to revisit. Occasionally, I hear people talking about the “good old days.” This discussion usually includes things like the price of gasoline, the price of milk, or when a certain interstate highway was a dirt road. Solomon said that this kind of talk was not wise. There are advantages and disadvantages to every time period in the history of mankind and every phase of our individual lives. Our tendency is to point out facets of life from another time that seem to have faded away and have been replaced with things that are less desirable, less enjoyable, and less advantageous to our purposes. This seems reasonable on the surface, but the problem is that we are ignoring all of the negative things that have been replaced with positives. We are overlooking all of the great reasons to be alive today. No matter what we do, we cannot travel back in time to the “good old days.” They are gone. The only time we have is the present, the only day that we have is today. God has given us this day for a reason. It will present us with opportunities that we could never have experienced in the “good old days.” We must endeavor to please God and serve Him today, because it is the only day that we have. We ought to thank God for the day He has given us and revel in the good things that we enjoy now.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” II Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul described a physical ailment with which he suffered as a thorn in the flesh. He said that God sent it to him to keep him humble. Paul prayed that God would remove the physical problem from his body, but the Lord spoke to Paul and told him that His grace was all that Paul needed in order to keep going. The Lord told Paul that he did not need to be healed and that his physical suffering had a purpose. God said that His strength and power were made perfect in weakness. When Paul was weak and feeble, it allowed the power of God to work through his life. Paul said, “When I am weak, then am I strong.” We worry so much about our weaknesses, and we think that they will keep us from accomplishing God’s will in our lives; but just the opposite is true. God wants to work through our weaknesses so that He can receive the glory for everything that is accomplished.