Life Project Blog

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

John used light and darkness in his Gospel to refer to God’s presence or absence in the world. Throughout Jesus’ ministry He said that His disciples were in the light and warned that darkness would soon arrive. Here once again Jesus equates His presence with light only now, He is speaking in much broader terms for both the people who heard His voice literally, and those who would follow Him later on.

As His followers, we are always in His light, for we are in His presence.

Yes, that statement can be slightly intimidating, for He is with us always; we have no secrets. Yet if you think about it, that statement is not only reassuring, but also awesome to behold, for even when we misbehave, He is with us to guide us back to the pathway of life.

Oh, what a glorious God we serve!

Two men were interviewed by a reporter several years back; they were brothers and as you might guess they had grown up together in the same house.  They had shared a rough childhood in a family with a father who drank too much, beat his wife and children frequently, couldn’t hold a job and was in and out of jail quite a bit.  The interviewer asked each of the brothers the exact same question: “Why did your life turn out the way it did?”

Both brothers gave exactly the same answer: “With a father like mine, how could it have turned out any differently?”

One of the brothers was in jail at the time of the interview.  He had a drinking problem, abused his family and couldn’t seem to hold a job.  The other brother was a successful businessman, C.E.O. of a Fortune 500 company with a great home-life…

So then, why did they turn out so completely differently and give the same answer as to why?  They had come from the same place and had the same upbringing, but they made different decisions in response to it.  The first one couldn’t see any other way of life, while the second one decided that he was going to be different− decisions are powerful things!

Every human being has many decisions to make throughout his or her life, and some of the time, those decisions might determine a life’s outcome.  Every human being has a decision to make that will not only determine the outcome and circumstances of this life, but it will also determine what happens to them in eternity.

Will you decide to follow Jesus?

It has been said that the only force that is stronger than fear is hope.

People who have hope will often do amazing things, while people who are without it will march quietly to slaughter.  One of the great tragedies of life is the fact that so many people are living without hope, just carrying on not really living, but existing.

I heard a story one time about a guy who was near the end of his financial rope. He had a great idea that he knew could save his situation, but he didn’t have the money to get started.  At the urging of friends, he spent the last of his money travelling to New York City to meet with potential investors in a desperate attempt to raise capital.  As he went from prospect to prospect, he felt more and more hopeless; why should they invest in someone who was ruined?

He essentially went through the motions for three days; there was only one day remaining before he would have to return home without a cent to his name.  A friend back home called him at his hotel to cheer him up, and in the process told the guy that an old friend of his had just promised a million dollars to help him get started.  Now, if he could only go out the next day and raise another million from investors, there would be no way that his project could fail, and he would have the means to save his financial life.

They next day, our friend was a different man when he made the rounds of his appointments, and he received firm commitments for several million more…  

It was only when he returned home that his friend admitted to him that he had lied!

The thing that mattered for the desperate man was that after his friend had told him the “story” he regained his faith in the future, and that played out in the way in which he had presented himself and his idea to the potential investors; everything was different when he had hope. Of course, hope based on a lie is tenuous at best; how much greater is our hope in Christ who is the way, the truth and the life!

When you see a little child, you see hope, joy and unlimited potential.  If only we could be like little children ourselves.  But in truth, we can be like that.  Whatever your circumstances might be, Jesus loves you and considers you to be important.  For those who are in relationship with Him, we always have the hope of eternity with Him, as well as the peace that His presence brings to us in this life, if we will turn our troubles over to Him.  This may not mean that life will be easy; sometimes it can be very hard.  It does mean that we will have perspective and hope, and with these there is no set of earthly circumstances that cannot be dealt with in Jesus Christ.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:5