Light Needed

“But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” (Joh 11:10 AV)

When we take this verse alone, we tend to think that the light which a person needs emanates from himself.  Then we scratch our heads.  How can light emanate from within?  It brings thoughts of a superpower, like beams coming from the eyes.  However, the previous verse tells us exactly what Jesus was trying to convey. When opening the eyes, there is a light within us.  The light comes from without.  Not emanates from within.  The light of which He speaks is the light of His presence.  He is trying to explain the truth surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus.  Our Savior is trying to explain why He delayed in seeing Lazarus.  The observation was made that if Jesus could give sight to the blind, He surely could have healed Lazarus.  Jesus deliberately allowed Lazarus to die so that He could raise him from the dead.  The light of which Jesus speaks is the hope of Jesus as our Messiah, Savior, and God. 

Some may look at the verse as a way to walk in the darkness.  If there were light, one could have and still walk in darkness, that is what mankind pursues.  Yet Jesus is not saying that light and darkness can co-exist.  Anymore than a soul can be saved and lost is impossible.  A body cannot be alive and dead at the same time.  Jesus is not telling His disciples that they can live in the darkness with the aid of a little light.  Again, that is what most people try to do.  The lost try to live in the darkness of their sin and doubt while sprinkling their lives with a few holidays, a Christian song here and there, a few sacred things hanging on the wall, and maybe even going to church once in a while.  God is a tradition and not a relationship.  Jesus is a thing, but not the principal thing in the life of the religiously lost.  If there is no outside source of light greater than our circumstances, then we stumble.

Jesus resurrected His best friend from the grave to prove to His disciples of His identity.  There is no other application here.  It is really sad how many cannot discern reality from fantasy.  They stumble in the dark because they refuse to accept the light of God’s existence.  God is real.  The Bible is His perfect word to us.  Jesus is real.  He came to earth, lived as a man, and went to Calvary’s cross as the sinless lamb.  The light that gives us clear direction is given.  All one must do is open the eyes.  It is a willful choice to acknowledge the truth and order one’s life by it.  The first thing to do is confess and forsake sin, trusting in Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior, and calling upon Him who died for all.  If we stumble in life, it is because we choose not to see.