John 1: 1-18 (MSG) THE LIFE-LIGHT
"1-2 THE WORD was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. THE WORD WAS GOD, in READINESS FOR GOD from day one.
3-5 EVERYTHING was CREATED THROUGH HIM; NOTHING—not one thing!—CAME INTO BEING WITHOUT HIM. What came into existence was LIFE, and the LIFE WAS LIGHT to LIVE by.The LIFE-LIGHT blazed out of the darkness; the darkness COULDN'T put it out.
6-8 There once was a man, his name JOHN, SENT BY GOD to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life HE brings into Light. HE WAS IN THE WORLD, the world was there THROUGH HIM, and yet the World DIDN'T even notice.He came to HIS own people, but they DIDN'T WANT HIM.
But WHOEVER DID want him, WHO BELIEVED He was who He Claimed and would DO what HE SAID, He made to be their TRUE SELVES, their CHILD OF GOD selves.These are the GOD BEGOTTEN, NOT blood-begotten, NOT flesh-begotten, NOT sex-begotten.
14 THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND BLOOD, AND MOVED into the neighborhood. We saw the GLORY WITH OUR OWN EYES, the ONE-OF-A-KIND GLORY, like Father, like Son, GENEROUS inside and out, TRUE from start to finish.
15 John pointed HIM out and called, “THIS IS THE ONE! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. HE has always been ahead of me, has always had the FIRST WORD.”
16-18 WE ALL LIVE OFF OF HIS GENEROUS BOUNTY, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses,and then this EXUBERANT GIVING AND RECEIVING,This ENDLESS KNOWING AND UNDERSTANDING—
ALL CAME THROUGH JESUS, THE MESSIAH.
No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This ONE-OF-A-KIND God-Expression, WHO EXISTS AT the very HEART of the Father, has made HIM PLAIN as day."
Our LIFE CHANGES for the BETTER (inwardly first) as we BELIEVE in what HE SAYS! We've done it all BEFORE...WITHOUT Him...and can SEE what a MESS of things we have made on our own.
Just like FUMBLING AROUND in the dark TRYING to find something...we can't SEE what we are SEEKING too clearly. Oh but when we TURN the LIGHT ON we can SEE the MESS we've made along away when we didn't KNOW what was HIDDEN in the dark. But we are also are ABLE to SEE where we are GOING and FIND what we are SEEKING much FASTER!
You know like...
That MAN you KNOW you SHOULDN'T have gotten involved with just because he paid you some attention that you hadn't felt in awhile.
That credit card/loan that you AGREED TO even though you KNOW you said you were TRYING to get out of debt.
That job you thought would bring in MORE MONEY but is KEEPING you from spending MORE TIME with your family and getting to church.
That decision you made WITHOUT given one thought to ASKING GOD about it because YOU WANTED what YOU wanted at that moment.
Those people you've been spending TOO MUCH TIME with who are helping to LEAD you further from God than TO HIM.
In THIS LIFE...We NEED THE LIGHT...of HIS WORD!.HE makes things SO MUCH CLEARER... more VISIBLE...and QUICKER to FIND!
No More MOVING in the dark for YOU, YOUR FAMILY, or YOUR COMMUNITY...TURN on the LIGHT! LET THE WORD ILLUMINE your path...for what you need to KNOW for YOUR JOURNEY! It all STARTS with HIM anyway...The LIGHT...The LIFE...THE WORD!
~ALH, Always Loving Him/Her
