Renovation of the Heart
The Children of Light and the Light of the World (4|4)
Pages 240-243
• The Light of the World
• Darkness Declared to Be Light
• Darkness Now Presented as Light
• Now Is the Time to Be Children of Light
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
John 1:4-5 (NIV) In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 8:12 (NIV) “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 9:4-5 (NIV) “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
The Light of the World
“Light means both energy and knowledge. From the person of Christ there uniquely came into the world the energy and knowledge by which human beings could be delivered from evil and enabled to live as it ought to be lived. - When Jesus sent out his apprentices to make apprentices of all ethnic groups on earth, what he had in mind was a worldwide moral revolution. - Ordinary human beings in their ordinary positions in life were appointed and empowered by him to be, each in their peculiar places, ‘the light of the world.’ - We can understand the subsequent course of history only if we see it as a combination of the successes and the failures of those who became identified with Christ to be light of their world in the character and power of Christ himself.”
What is your response to this statement? How do YOU see yourself, your place in the world, as an apprentice - a light bearer?
Darkness Declared to Be Light
“Modern humanity has officially, in its governing institutions, forsaken the true Light of the World. Jesus himself. In times of desperation, they may still turn to him in prayer, but they do not think of him as the only one who knows reality and how the world should go.”
In what ways have you seen the culture you live in forsake Jesus as the light of the world and declare itself to be the light of the world?
Darkness Now Presented as Light
“Moral assuredness and self-righteousness in the practice of what, traditionally, would have been regarded as blatant evil is now the single most dominant feature of our common world. ‘sex and violence’ in the media are but one symptom of this overwhelming fact and are very far from being the central issue.”
How do you see the relationship between the modern rejection of Jesus as the authoritative teacher of the world and the present state of the popular arts (music, movies, etc.)?
Now Is the Time to Be Children of Light
“Now that we know from our studies - what it takes to be children of light, how could we possibly be excused from not taking that open path and leading others into it? We will then, once again, see among us the presence of the God who answers by fire. As Moses said to the Lord long ago, (Exodus 33:16 NIV) How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Have you ever asked God a similar question as Moses?
EXTRA READING:
“The first law of our being is that we are set in a delicate network of interdependence with our fellow human beings and with the rest of God’s creation.”
- Desmond Tutu (1931 - 2021)