John 3:16-26
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” [1]
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What caught my attention today is the light/darkness discussion by John that follows the well-known gospel of John 3:16. Note that John in 19-21 John is depicting an ongoing life in the light, living by the truth in the sight of God. And what I’m hearing is Christ reminding me that if I am claiming to be a believer, and claiming to have eternal life, this will be seen in a life of walking in the light and truth.
John 3:16-18 is a great passage regarding being saved by faith. Whoever believes has eternal life and is not condemned. But we are not to think of this as a mere moment of confessing faith, and then we get our spiritual eternal life insurance policy. Faith is not a moment but an ongoing orientation of the heart seen in the life. We are not saved by deeds as some sort of payment we owe. No, we are saved by God’s grace (gift), through a living faith. That faith is lived through deeds of love and service. Or as John put it, living by the truth or walking in the light.
Some church and Christian writers have suggested that we stop calling ourselves “Christians,” but instead “Christ-followers.” The later label is active and ongoing and implies a dedication to following and serving Christ in the present and the future.
So this text leads be to ask myself: “Am I living by the truth?” Is my life showing my faith.
I routinely begin my morning Abide time with a mental review of the previous day. I walk through the day, praying for the people that I encountered, met with, ministered to. I ask myself where I saw Jesus that day. But then I also look at my life for those times when I didn’t “live by the truth,” where my self-centered showed up, where my sinful nature raised its ugly head. Obviously this leads into confession before God.
So my prayer this morning is for forgiveness for the failures of yesterday, and a prayer for strength and guidance in all the opportunities of the new day. May my life show my faith. More than that, may it show the light, the true light, Jesus Christ.
[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 3:16–26). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.