John 3:16-21 (NRSV)
Read John 3:16-21 on biblegateway.com
Verse 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Verse 17"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Verse 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Verse 19And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Verse 20For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. Verse 21But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."
Devotion
Our eyes sometimes adjust so well to darkness that we consider light unnecessary or undesirable. A sudden infusion of light changes everything, as we discover how insufficient the former conditions were. Yet illumination also means exposure, and the arrival of light in dark places stings our eyes. Do we greet God’s light within the world with gratitude or resentment? Do we come to it or resist it? It came to us first, with a promise, “for God so loved the world.”
Prayer
Savior of the world, we yearn to be bathed in light, yet we recoil at the prospect of having our own darkness revealed. Cleanse and enliven us with your brilliant, redemptive love. Amen.