Blog

The Light Still Shines

By: Steve Negley

Posted: May 18, 2018

Category: Daily Devotional

In their time together earlier this year, the members of the Confirmation Class started reading the Bibles that we, as a congregation, gave them. Before they were confirmed, our sixth grade young people had read all of the Gospel According to Mark, and Matthew and Luke. As the class ended, these disciples were reading a chapter a day in John’s Gospel. Having read along with them, a chapter a day from the stories of the life of Jesus, the good news that John shared with us is still lingering in my mind.

Part of that good news is contained in the opening section of John, known as the Prologue.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
John 1:1-5

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” I love knowing that Christ’s coming and Christ’s presence in the world brought light to a dark and dreary time. (I was a history major for part of my college years. I have read about some dark and dastardly deeds in the past. I have also lived through some turbulent times, and have seen how history tends to repeat itself. People sometimes display deeply disappointing behavior towards others. Darkness appears again.) Yet I love knowing that what John shared in his day and time is as true today as it was 2000 years ago when John first wrote these words.

The light of Christ still shines in the darkness.

In the dark times in history, Christ’s followers have helped brighten the way. In the dark moments in our personal lives, the love and grace of Christ give us a glimmer of hope. And today, if Christ is in me, the little light of God’s love might be the spark someone else needs to push through the darkness.

Prayer

Thank you, God, for bringing light each day to my life, as I follow my Lord and Savior Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.