Daily Lesson for January 21, 2014

Today's Lesson is from John 3:19,20:

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

A man comes to Jesus by night. His name is Nicodemus, so ancient tradition mandates that we call him "Nick at Night".

Why night? Because he is part of the ruling inner religious circle, yet he knows the religious institution is corrupt to its core. It has cheated and oppressed and murdered. It is plotting murder again. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by for fear of these things coming to light. He is afraid of being exposed.

Exposure can be terrifying. The thought of someone knowing who we are and what we've done causes panic in the heart. It leads to all sorts of denial, and coverup, and perhaps, if we are desperate enough, even murder - whether that be homicide or suicide. The light is that threatening. We would rather murder the light than be exposed by it.

If someone reading this is in this position, hiding themselves in the cloak of darkness, I ask that you would consider doing the most terrifying thing imaginable - walk toward the light. Take a step.

What you find is that your fear of the light is far worse than the light itself; your guilt and your shame are worse now in hiding than when things come to light. The self-judgement you are meeting out upon yourself in the dark is far worse than anything you will face in the light.

There's really no other way out. As the Scriptures say, "Your deeds will find you out." Whether in this life or the one to come we will all have to come before the light. But when we do, we will discover, not so much the judgment we feared, but a freedom and grace we didn't even know was possible. And we will say, "I should have done this sooner."