A beautiful day, oh Father, Creator of all! And to think I am so blessed as to be able to take part in it these moments – walking through Your vastly intricate handiwork! All praise to You!
John 3:19-21 (<<click here to read the passage)
I would really struggle at being the school bus driver I need to be if I attempted to do my job without a good flashlight. You may have never thought about it, but school bus drivers are at it way before the crack of dawn.
I don’t know if my schedule is typical, but I am up most mornings a little after 4:00 a.m., which is time enough to wake up, get ready, have a bite of breakfast, and then be at the bus compound by 5:30 or so. Even on the students’ last day of school this year, sunrise still won’t take place until 6:04 a.m.
So, when we go to prep our buses for the day (we call it a pre-trip) it is still dark. And we have to see all kinds of things under the hood alone. Without light, I can’t tell if the wiring is in good shape or if something has burned or broken. I can’t read the oil level on my dipstick. I can’t make sure steering fluid is at the correct level…just to name a couple of things we check every day before we take students anywhere!
Remember when we looked at John 1:4-5? And don’t forget the “Him” John is talking about, the Light he is referring to, is Jesus.
In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it]. AMP
If a bus were a person, it would probably not like to be examined so closely on a regular basis. When something is found, it is poked and prodded until the issue is resolved. Just this year alone a few things on my bus have needed addressed – low coolant, wear on my fan belt, and seeing a consistent small decrease in oil level led our mechanics to find out that I need an O-ring replaced.
We don’t like it when others see our faults and our issues. It’s bad enough when they’re physical issues but most of us don’t volunteer to have a light brightly shone on our spiritual lives…but that is what Jesus, as the Light, does.
Here John helps us understand why we have issues
This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. vs19-20 AMP
Then on the flip side, when we yield to Light shining on our lives, we accomplish what He wants for His Kingdom.
But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].” v21 AMP
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Apr 19th, 2021, Mon, 7:09 pm
