Jesus LIt It Up

What Did Jesus Do?

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1.4

Having begun the year with the commitment to do all things in and through Jesus Christ (See WDJD for 1/1/11), the “him” in John 1.4, let's think about the year that lies before us. We're all here at the beginning, we could call it point “A,” and far off in the distance, twelve months from now, is point “B,” December 31, the end of 2011. What is yet to be determined is how we are going to get from “A” to “B.” And the “how” makes all the difference as to where the “B” ends up. If we have decided that every step of every day from now through next December will be taken in Christ, we have already ruled out a lot of possible point “Bs.” What we've done in actuality is turn over our life to the “him” in John 1.4, he alone will be the one who will make it possible for us to get from where we are today, to where we need to be 364 days from now.

Determining to walk with Jesus every step of the way in 2011 might not tell us at this very moment exactly where we will be in a year, but, knowing that wherever we will be we will be with him, frees us from any and all worry about the outcome of the next twelve months—being with the Lord is all that matters. At this point I suppose it might be a good idea to say a few words about what the coming year would be like apart from Christ.

For starters, John makes it clear that life, real life, is only found in, through, and with the Word (Jesus Christ). Apart from Jesus one cannot truly be alive. To put it rather crudely, everyone who goes through 2011 without the Lord is really nothing more than a zombie, appearing to be alive while in reality being quite dead. Why is this so? Because life is in “him.” Not some life, but all life is in Christ. Apart from the Lord there is only death. I know it sounds harsh, but wouldn't it be cruel to allow people to operate under the false assumption that there is any chance of life apart from Jesus?

So, choosing to live for, in, and through Jesus this year is to truly choose to live. Regardless of where our starting point, our “A” is in 2011, making the choice to travel every day of the year with Jesus guarantees that when we reach finishing point, our “B” at the end of the year, we will be alive in Christ!

But there's more than life in Christ, there is light, the “light of men.” The importance of this cannot be overstated. What kind of life can we live if we are in darkness? Even more, how could we, in the midst of deep darkness know where we are now, at point “A”? We would be lost. Not knowing where we are, we could hardly begin to make any real progress to where we want and need to be a the end of the year at point “B.” In darkness we can neither know where we are or where we are going. But in the light, we can see exactly where we are now, and the light can show us the precise path we need to follow to get where we need to be.

Again, it is only those who are in Christ who are in the light, everyone else is in darkness, they have no clue, regardless of how detailed a plan they may have worked out, where they are going. To return to that crude label, apart from Jesus people are nothing more than zombies, at best pretending to be alive. And, more, they are zombies doomed to stumble about in utter darkness—in other words dead and lost. I cannot imagine a worse condition.

To receive Jesus, to make him the center and object of each and every one of our days is to have both light and life; it is the promise that, whatever transpires in the next twelve months, we can have complete assurance and confidence in where we will be a year from now. I hope that Jesus, his life and his light, is your choice for 2011.

Before winding up this WDJD I need to digress a moment to comment on the matter of choice. Anyone's “choosing” of Christ rests completely in their election, their being chosen, by the Father to eternally belong to him in and through the Son. No one “chooses” Jesus without the Father having first chosen them. For it is only the ones he has chosen whom the Father sends the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus. The capacity to “choose” the Lord is not something we are born with, but rather re-born with. The desire to “choose” Jesus is not something we determine to do on our own, but rather have been determined by the Father to do. In short, it is only the chosen who choose.

The work of the Church is to be the life and the light of Jesus Christ in and for the world. Each one of us who decide to live in and for Jesus every day become vessels by which the Father brings others to the Son—the the dead and the lost to life and light. Jesus, the Word, “lit it up,” and he has called us in turn to be the “light of the world” (Matthew 5.14-16) in order that others now in darkness may come into the light of the Lord. In 2011 let us determine that our light (The light of Jesus) will shine before others, and give glory to our Father in heaven!

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4