At Second Glance - Sharing Your Life and Faith

A second look at this past week's message from Shoal Creek's Student Ministries...

This past week in our Shoal Creek student ministries we talked about "Sharing Our Lives and Faith." We took a look at scripture from John 1:1-9. Verses 4-5 really stuck out to me the most, and here they are:

The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created,
and his (Jesus') life brought light to everyone.
The light (Jesus) shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it (Jesus).

These verses stuck out to me the most because I find that what my heart desires, what my heart absolutely needs more than anything else, is a permanent light source that will never go out. I may think that I want more money, cooler stuff, more free time, better friendships, or a higher social status. I may think that having more any of those physical or abstract desires would bring me more joy and satisfaction in life. But if I attach my emotional well-being to any of those things, if I let the desire for those things to "light up my life" and affect the way I operate and make decisions, than I will be plunged into darkness when those things are taken away from me.

Any created thing ultimately has an expiration date. Objects, money, things, people--they all run out, get used up, become drained. They're all like batteries. Each are limited in their capacity to give. Each are limited in the amount of light they can provide. So anyone who's lighting their life by any of those things will be plunged into darkness (again) when:  the money runs out, the popularity is gone, the athletic ability doesn't exist anymore, the relationship is over.

What we need more than anything else is to understand Jesus is the only light that will never be extinguished. And therefore, we need to let our lives be guided by His light. 

Meaning...

...our worth needs to come from understanding how much He loves us instead of our worth coming from what other people say about us. 

...our sense of security needs to come from understanding that He provides us with the income we need instead of us finding security in accumulating possessions. 

...any goodness we experience or bring into the world comes from Him instead of thinking that we are our own saviors. 

We experience darknesses every day, every week. Our family and friends do, too. We lose the non-Jesus things we've wrongly put our hope in, and then we are overwhelmed and crushed by the darkness, joylessness and hopelessness that shroud us.

What we need, and what our friends and family need, more than anything else, is a permanent light source--a permanent fixture of hope, love, faithfulness and joy--that will always be available and accessible through whatever struggle we found ourselves having to go through. Jesus is that light. He says,

“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”