The Light of the world

Jesus said , " He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light " in John 5:35

'He' here refers to John , the Baptist . In the present world, we always linger in darkness both in mind and heart. There are thousand ways by which we are distracted in our spiritual life. First we need to surrender ourselves to God's will , as John did. He was chosen to announce the coming of the Messiah. He was the sound in the wilderness. He ate nothing but grass-hoppers and honey. He submitted himself to the will of God. No, I don't ask you to eat grass-hoppers and cloth like John(he wore animal skin). We need to draw inspiration from his life.

Jesus , the Light of the world declares John as the lamp. A candle whose source was God with the fuel of the Holy Spirit. There are three things before the light starts to shine upon us :

1. We need to grieve for our short-comings, weaknesses and sins to the Lord. We are nothing but dust made to glorify God. We should acknowledge our creator for what He is. When the first light enters us, it shows us the way we are -- nothing less nothing more. All the dark secrets within us, so far are made to shone in the light which comes from God. For the first time in our life, God gives us a chance to realise ourselves who we are and where do we stand from God?

2. The second light comes and provides solace at our times of trouble. When we are able to see our own sins, the light shows us Jesus , our saviour who has already carried all our sins on the cross. We enjoy a father-children relationship with our creator. We are made heirs in Christ. Oh, what a privilege? There's always a person waiting to take our sins, if we confess. He has already removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west. We need not condemn ourselves for our sins. What better can this get?

3. Once we have witnessed and cherished the first two lights, the third light is all about dis-integration of our self. We need to relieve ourselves from us. 'Me' and 'I' should change to 'You'(GOD). He is the source of everything. His hands made the heaven and the Earth. Once we have this wonderful feeling, we can let our light shine upon others.

This light will even expose other people's darkness and make them aware of their transgressions and sins.

This is an excerpt from a short message given by Pastor Joshua. The first time meeting with him happened at MIT Hostels. I was shocked to hear that he was visiting the hostels for the past 15 years! What a God-fearing man , he should be. Bless him Lord and Praise be to Lord forever. Amen


Jai Praveen.