The Light of the World

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
John 1:1-5

The words of a poet. My favorite gospel, The Gospel of John, starts out with this beautiful abstract depiction of the origins of Jesus. The Savior wasn't brought into the world in a manger. No, His story starts much, much earlier.

In the beginning. There, at the start... before there was anything but God and His truth, God and His perfectness, God and His almighty rightness, there He was. There was my Jesus. He was right there. He was with the Father. But more importantly... HE WAS A PART OF GOD.

This is hard for our brains to understand... but the abstract thinker I am, I love this. Its poetic, its mythical, its fantastic. God and Jesus, together... in the beginning. And Jesus was the creative spark by which all things were made.
WOW!!!

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
John 1:1o

But then the story gets more amazing. Jesus, the Light of the World was shot down into darkness. He became like us. Even though it was by way of Him that everything was made, He came and became a little part of it... threw himself into the middle of the maelstrom... all to send His brilliant light into the darkness.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:11-14

And then the mind blowing conclusion... We can receive Him. This light can come and dwell in us. We can have that Light that was there, a part of God in the beginning, right here in our chests. We can be the light send down to brighten the darkness.
But think about this, friends. How is the light shining through you? How are you using the Light of World to lighten the darkness? The true task a Christian should be lighting those darkened recesses of the world so that more can see the greatness of our God.

Lord, help me be the light.