#DailyDevotion People Love Darkness And Not The Light
John 3:18-21 18If you believe in Him, you’re not condemned. But if you don’t believe, you’re already condemned because you don’t believe in the name of God’s only-begotten Son. 19This is why people are condemned: The Light came into the world, but people have loved darkness instead of the Light because they have been doing wrong. 20Everyone who does wrong hates the Light and will not come to the Light — he doesn’t want his works to be seen in the light. 21But anyone who lives in the truth comes to the Light so that his works may be seen to have been done in God.”
This is some great news if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, that is you look to him alone for your salvation. There is no condemnation for you, even though you most certainly do deserve to be condemned for the wrongs, the sins, you have committed. It’s like you never have done them. So you can stand boldly and confidently before the throne of judgment because you stand in Christ Jesus and his righteousness.
If you don’t believe this, well it is not so good news for you. You stand condemned already because you don’t believe in the name of God’s only-begotten Son. I don’t think this is a causal because, that is you are condemned as a result of not believing in Jesus’ name. Rather it is a ‘conditional because’, that is you do not believe in Jesus Christ because you are already condemned in your trespasses and sins. This is not necessarily a permanent state. As we saw in verses 16 and 17 God so loved the world, that means these people too. Jesus didn’t to condemn the world the world, that includes these people, but to save them.
Yet, the people we encounter who are not believers…yet are described here so we need not fret we are not doing a good enough job to convert them to faith in Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. He even, maybe even especially, uses our feeble attempts in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to convert people. When we look at the shape of our world and think people are going mad we need only realize this truth Jesus speaks, people love darkness because they have been doing wrong. If they do wrong they hate the Light and won’t come to the Light (who is Jesus) because they don’t want their works to be seen in the light. Seriously, if you have tried to rebuke the sins of our current society then you have seen how mad these people can get. Yet, they will never come to the Light unless they see their need for the Light of the world, Jesus Christ.
Thank God we have this word from John 1:9“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive our sins and wash us clean from all unrighteousness.” We come to the Light and have our sins exposed so they may be forgiven. Not only that, Jesus says we come to his Light “so that his (our) works may be seen to have been done in God.” In the Light of Christ, only those works wrought by God, in God, prepared by God for us to do are seen by our Father in heaven. We do not cease sharing God’s Law and the Gospel for fear of offending anyone. It is only through that they may come to the Light in confession and be absolved. Just don’t be surprised when they continue in darkness. It is what they like and are used to being and doing. But the Holy Spirit, when and where it pleases him uses our message to bring them into the Light of Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, may we continually come to the Light, your Son Jesus Christ, confess our sins, receive forgiveness and then by your grace do the good you have planned for us to do to your glory and the glory of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.