God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 1 John 1:5
Even as the darkness of death was present in his sickly body, Augustin-Jean Fresnel persisted in working on his powerful light. Finally, in the early 1820s, he tested the first Fresnel lens in France’s Cordouran lighthouse. The lens—a ring of beehive-like prisms—allowed sailors navigating dark, troubled waters to glimpse life-saving beams many, many nautical miles from land. Called “the invention that saved a million ships,” Fresnel’s work was featured in thousands of lighthouses by the 1860s. Although he died of tuberculosis in 1827 at just thirty-nine years old, the light from his lens would save the lives of countless seafarers over the coming decades.
As a part of His perfect plan, God chose to send Jesus, His only Son, to bring light to our troubled world. As John wrote, “God is light, in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Christ pushed back the darkness of sin and death as He shared the good news of life and forgiveness (vv. 2, 9). Because of Him, we can live “in the light, as God is in the light,” . . . for “the blood of Jesus . . . cleanses us from all sin” (v. 7).
Like Fresnel, Jesus also died in his thirties, but He rose again—providing light and life for all who believe in Him (Acts 16:31). In Christ, we find the power we need to walk in His light. Tom Felten
What does it mean for you to walk in the light of Christ? In what practical ways can you shine for Him?
Jesus, thank You for the light You’ve brought to this world and to my heart. Please help me, by Your power, to radiate Your love and ways.
1 John 1:1–10
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
