The Light of God!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” – John 3:16-21 NIV

John 3:16 is probably the most famous and popular Bible verse of all times. We think it is normal that God is full of the grace and mercy, due to the fact that God has created us. Because of this, we believe it is okay to live according to our desires, pleasures, passions, and will as long as we are believing in Jesus Christ at the same time. Therefore, we think that believing in Jesus Christ is the main part of the legalistic ways to enter the kingdom of heaven at the end of the age. Secondly, we assume that if we live In the light all the time, then the Spirit is literally guiding us to walk with the Lord until the end of our lives. Hence, if we do not have moments of inspirations all the time, then we forget about God and walk in our own ways to be fully satisfied.

 Indeed, God is full of the mercy and grace (Psalm 103:8) and He has created everything for our enjoyment. However, we need to surrender ourselves to God as well by repenting before Him in prayer (2 Peter 3:8-9). The main reason  for this is that everything actually belongs to God (Colossians 1:16-20). Colossians 1:21 states that we have been alienated from God and enemies in our minds, due to the fact that we have denied Jesus Christ (John 16:8-11), who is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15), and went into our selfish ways. This is the exact reason that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross for us—to bring us back together to God, our heavenly Father (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:22). God has created us to be His image (Genesis 1:27) and His children (Ephesians 1:4-6). Furthermore, when God saw all that He had made, He declared that it was very good and He rested on the seventh day (Genesis 1:31-2:1-3). Hence, Jesus declares,

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. (Matthew 16:24-27)

Believing in Jesus Christ is not only believing about Him, but also trusting in Him until the end of the age. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) When Jesus was crucified and resurrected (Luke 24:4-7), God has poured His Spirit into us, in order to help and guide us in walking with Him (John 16:7-15). Otherwise, following Jesus Christ is just going to be hard. Furthermore, believing about Him in a legalistic way is going to bring condemnation to us, due to the fact that there will be no sense of having freedom in Jesus Christ. This is probably because the Spirit of God is not only the Spirit of the truth, but the Spirit is the Spirit of the freedom as well (2 Corinthians 3:17). In addition, ‘walking in the light’ does not really mean of having moments of inspiration all the time. They are just the empowerment of the Spirit, but the Spirit of God does more work than giving us the empowerment. The Spirit allows us to stay an intimate relationship with God like fellowshipping with Him on daily basis (1 John 1:5-7).

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:1-17)