This morning, I was at a meeting with our University and Young Adults staff about a worship gathering they will be hosting this coming Sunday night. They were primarily discussing how to set up the space we have and organize the “flow” of the evening to help people experience God through the time together.
The lesson for the night will be on John 1:1-5, so a lot of emphasis on the planning was being placed on lighting: “In Him was life, and that life is the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This discussion and the reflection on the passage got me thinking:
When Christ came into the world, He was the light of the world, and no matter how hard the darkness tried, it could not overcome Him. His light was too powerful. In fact, the darkness’s best attempt to overcome Him (the cross) led to His greatest victory (the resurrection). Light and darkness are not equal opposites, but rather darkness is a weaker foe that is easily overcome when the light enters into its presence.
This is good, but I then realized something else awesome: when Jesus left the earth, He promised to be with His people forever (“ even to the end of the age”). This means that if we’re Christians, wherever we go, Christ goes with us. And wherever Christ goes, the light goes, and wherever the light goes, the darkness cannot overcome it. As Christians, we are “children of the light” (1 Thess. 5:5). Just as the darkness cannot overcome Jesus’ light, it cannot ultimately overcome our light either. In fact, its best attempts to do so have historically been some of the greatest victories for the faith, which is why the saying exists that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Wherever we go, we bring the light. Darkness cannot stand in our presence, because the light of the world accompanies us. So let us live boldly.
