Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…
I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Door
I AM The Resurrection and the LifeEach week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM. The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead. We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them. And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.
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Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I AM the Light of the world.
Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness
but will have the Light of life.”
John 8:12
Jesus had just finished speaking to the crowd about the woman caught in adultery. He knew that the Pharisees were always looking for a way to trap Him and wanted to find a way to discredit Him before the people. Only Jesus knew what they were trying to do.
Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, is given wisdom to know what is going on. While on earth, Jesus wanted to teach His people all that He could in the short time He was here. He knew how burdensome the Pharisees, Saducees and Scribes would make life to live. With all of the man-made rules on top of what was in the Old Testament, it was such a burden for the people at Jesus’ time.
Now Jesus spoke about the ‘yoke’ the rulers and lawyers had created for the people. God, as always, sees and hears about our lives here on earth, that is why He sent His Son Jesus when He did. He knew then was the right time for His Son to liberate His chosen people. And also, when they did not receive, then it was time for the Gentiles to hear and receive the wonderful news about Jesus.
Always know that God is watchful over us. He knows our comings and goings, He knows our needs now, just as then. He will always be a Light to us in our world. When we seek His ways and obey His words we will have Light in all areas of our minds. We will never have those dark places unless we let it back in.
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Father, help us keep our focus on You. We want to have Your Light in our hearts at all times. Help us know how to keep Your Light within us, not focus on the darkness. Bring into our lives those that You know will help us to seek You more. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thank you, Tina, for “prompting” me to read all of John 8. It was good to put it all in context. I’m so thankful that as we seek and obey Jesus, we will always have His Light to guide us.
thanks for mentioning the Gentiles (us!) and God’s grace in giving us the Light, His Son Jesus, too! <3