June 19th

June 19th -- John 3:1-21 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:1-21&version=NLT)

Okay, I REALLY love the last part of this passage - more specifically how it ends. I mean, when you get towards the end, it talks about the light of God coming into the world. Then it talks about how some shy away/hide from it, while others come into it. Now, in verse 20, at the beginning, it says "All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed." It then goes to talk about the ones who do come to the light. Now, it's set up as if to make it seem like verse 21 would be something like "All who do not do evil come into the light, for they have nothing to hide and are not ashamed." Guess what: in that case, not one person (except Jesus) could walk into that light - we'd all be running from that light as fast as and far as we could. The thing is, it says "But those who do what is right come into the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants." Now, notice it says "who do what is right" and NOT EVER, ANYWHERE "who are blameless", "who do not sin", "who have not sinned", or even "who are no longer sinners". We are all sinners. That's why we come to the light. We will be stepping up and honestly all those secret sins we keep will start to be revealed, but that's the point. God asks us to do it, and we're doing it - that's why it's "those who do right" who come to the light. When we come into that light, we expose our sin, yes, but we also open ourselves to be washed clean of them - and isn't that really what we all want in the end?

That's all for today, folks! God bless! Shalom!