40 Days of Praise - Day 12
Day 12
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1:4-5
Picking up where we left off yesterday, the full-orbed life in Jesus, physical and spiritual life at its full, made it evident that life as the human race was living it was seriously deficient. Though He had "emptied himself" (Philippians 2:7) of living as God and had taken on human flesh, still, His life shined light on human existence. He lived as one who saw the kingdom of God, who understood that the LORD looks on the heart, that "all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13b). But His life was not weighed down or entangled by sin (Hebrews 12:1); He did all things to please His Father (John 8:29).
One of my Bible School professors told a story of his student days in theology class. They were discussing what it would have been like to have had Jesus as an older brother. A fellow student talked about how wonderful it would have been to have an older brother who was always kind and patient, who looked out for you and always did right by you. My professor took up the other side of the argument. "Do you have any idea what it would be like to have a brother who was never wrong? who always did the right thing, always told the truth, always got it right the first time? It would be so frustrating! You could never blame anything on Jesus, never accuse him of lying because Mom and Dad knew he always told the truth. It would get so irritating, so angering that you'd want to get rid of him. You'd want to get him out of the picture. You'd want to... to kill him!"
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
People knew something about Him was different. Some were drawn to it; others wanted to extinguish it. "And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." Those who wanted to extinguish Him didn't understand that this life-and-light person who they so despised was the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. They didn't understand that His sinlessness would qualify Him to take on all their sin and offer them salvation. "For our sake he [God the Father] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
What love must it take to live a life that draws the disdain of the very ones that He came to save by dying in their place?! What kind of man is this?
'Tis the Lord, O wondrous story!
'Tis the Lord, the King of Glory!
At His feet we humbly fall!
Crown Him! Crown Him Lord of All!
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1:4-5
Picking up where we left off yesterday, the full-orbed life in Jesus, physical and spiritual life at its full, made it evident that life as the human race was living it was seriously deficient. Though He had "emptied himself" (Philippians 2:7) of living as God and had taken on human flesh, still, His life shined light on human existence. He lived as one who saw the kingdom of God, who understood that the LORD looks on the heart, that "all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13b). But His life was not weighed down or entangled by sin (Hebrews 12:1); He did all things to please His Father (John 8:29).
One of my Bible School professors told a story of his student days in theology class. They were discussing what it would have been like to have had Jesus as an older brother. A fellow student talked about how wonderful it would have been to have an older brother who was always kind and patient, who looked out for you and always did right by you. My professor took up the other side of the argument. "Do you have any idea what it would be like to have a brother who was never wrong? who always did the right thing, always told the truth, always got it right the first time? It would be so frustrating! You could never blame anything on Jesus, never accuse him of lying because Mom and Dad knew he always told the truth. It would get so irritating, so angering that you'd want to get rid of him. You'd want to get him out of the picture. You'd want to... to kill him!"
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
People knew something about Him was different. Some were drawn to it; others wanted to extinguish it. "And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." Those who wanted to extinguish Him didn't understand that this life-and-light person who they so despised was the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. They didn't understand that His sinlessness would qualify Him to take on all their sin and offer them salvation. "For our sake he [God the Father] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
What love must it take to live a life that draws the disdain of the very ones that He came to save by dying in their place?! What kind of man is this?
'Tis the Lord, O wondrous story!
'Tis the Lord, the King of Glory!
At His feet we humbly fall!
Crown Him! Crown Him Lord of All!
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