Jesus: The Light of the World and My Life

In January of 2025, our church found out the word of the year would be LIGHT. My pastor then chose to let me preach on Jesus being the light on January 12. I wanted to share my message through the blog. I hope it touches your heart. If you would like to listen to the actual message, click the link at the bottom of the blog. 

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.          (John 1:1-5)

This passage shows that Jesus has and always will be. He was there from the beginning when there was nothing until God spoke it into existence. Jesus came to this earth to show out the Word of God in living flesh and His life brought light to all of those around Him. 

Which is then echoed in John 9 when Jesus heals a blind man and says in verse 5: “while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

In all honesty, I struggled with this message. Every day I would feel the urge to work on it and I just couldn’t. Then Wednesday came for the prayer service and I straight up wrote in my journal during the prayer time: Lord, I am struggling so bad to write my message for Sunday and I am wondering if it is because I struggle to let you be the light of my life. 

And when I wrote that, it solidified the message I had within my heart for us all today because there are two questions we need to sit with when it comes to Jesus being the light: 

- Where do you need Jesus as the light of your life RIGHT NOW? 

- How is Jesus the light of your life RIGHT NOW?

We have to be able to see Him but also need Him as the light of our lives. 

So I asked some people these questions. 

I wish I could go in full depth of what they all said but it was absolutely beautiful to read and reflect on. And a lot of people said they needed Jesus to be the light of their lives when it came to: 

• Their marriages

• Their families 

• Extended family

• Decision making 

• Relationships 

• Areas they needed to give over to Him

• Areas of confession and willingness to do so 

• Friendships that are not on the right path 

• Their conversations with others 

How Jesus is the light of their life right now: 

•  By reminding me of hope and peace, even in the midst of challenges. He brings clarity through His Word, comfort in prayer, and a sense of purpose through opportunities to serve others.

• Right now, he is the light of my life in knowing His truth about me. Knowing that his word means more than the darkness in the world.

• In leading our family to grow closer together, He is the Light that leads the way

• Bringing peace to a busy life 

• He’s bringing me closer to him and to the purpose I’ve felt like he’s called me into. 

• His goodness continues to remind me that he is consistently stable in any storm and that he has me secured in his hand. 

So then I reflected: Where do I need Him to be the light in my life right now? 

• In my mind - when it wanders to the “what if’s” and listens to the lies of the enemies

• In friendships - when I feel alone and like I could never be a good friend 

• In my little family - that I am good enough for them because He made me for them 

• In my calling/purpose - to continue walking in the path that He has lit before me

You see Jesus does bring light to all of these circumstances and is the light in every situation because Jesus brought light to those around Him by example and teaching.

And I can prove it with two verses that have been heavy on my heart since studying them in December. 

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. Isaiah 9:2 NLT

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6 NLT

So I can tell you right now that Jesus, the hope of the Messiah, written in Isaiah around 700 years before He was even born is the light of my life. He is the light of your life and it is in the four areas I read in that passage. 

Wonderful Counselor: He guides my life by His Light. 

• The promise that Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor is shown throughout the Gospels. He was a friend to all and spoke life to those who would hear. He was wise, sympathetic, empathetic and available to teach. His words still teach us to this day as we study the Word of God.

• Everyone knows I love how Jesus is the Shepherd and we are His sheep. He guides us along the path. He shows us the green pastures. He walks through the darkest valley with us. As we wonder how to be who we need to be for our family, extended family, friends and so on He guides us as we see Him in His Word. 

• John 15 says that as we abide in Him, we will grow more like Him and produce the fruit of Him. 

• If He is light = we will become full of light because of Him radiating in us. 

• When Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the Holy Spirit came to dwell among us and as John 1 says, the Holy Spirit has always been too. The Holy Spirit was embodied through Christ on earth then left here to be our helpmate and counselor as Jesus was for so many as Jesus proclaimed He would in John 16. 

Mighty God: He is our saving Light. 

• He did miracles upon miracles in the time of His walk on earth so much so that John 21:25 says: Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

• But He still does miracles now.

• He is our Mighty God in the way that He performs miracles but then more importantly, in how He saves us so graciously. We don’t deserve salvation yet we have it and it was sealed on the cross but then He rose again! We don’t sit in our sin anymore. The veil was torn and the tomb is empty. We can come to Him in full confession and ask Him to reveal the areas of our life that are not good or need to be given to Him because He sealed the deal of grace and eternity where we have nothing to fear. 

• Darkness flees before our Mighty God in Jesus! There are even stories of the Bible where demons FLEE!

Everlasting Father: He is the embodied Light of God. 

• We are promised eternity with God thanks to Jesus Christ, the sacrifice. He is the Father that is always waiting. He is the Father that loves no matter what. He is the Father that never leaves. & He is a good Father.

• In Matthew 28 before the ascension, Jesus shares the Great Commision: to go and tell the Good News. To make disciples. To baptize but then He also says that He is with us always, even to the end of the age. He makes that promise. 

• Revelation 22 shares in the promise that Jesus said: Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

• He is the light as we make decisions because He is our Father and a Father is not dismissive to His children. The Father inclines and listens. He protects, provides and loves.

Prince of Peace: He is my Light of peace. 

• He will reign and usher in peace. He will guide us to peace. 

• Jesus promised true peace - a peace that would never compare to the peace of this world. (John 14:27 promises this!) The peace He gives is within the promise of eternal life as He stood in our place. Eternity is filled with peace as hope is restored and we are removed from this broken world.

• One of my favorite stories is at the end of Luke 10 and it is when Jesus goes to sit in the home of Mary and Martha while He teaches. Martha is running around doing all the things and making sure her to-do list is checked off but Mary sits at Jesus’ feet. Martha gets all tore up and looks at Jesus and basically says: “Look at me. I am doing all the things and I am a good girl that always does right but Mary isn’t doing what she should. She’s just sitting around not doing what the list says to do and what is custom.” But Jesus just looks at her and says “Mary is doing what is right.” Mary was just in the presence of Jesus, the light of her life, that brought true peace to her life where nothing else mattered but sitting at His feet. 

• We rest in the peace that even in our worst moments and our hardest days, He is our light that reminds us of what is to come. 

I need to remember that He is the light, not me. I'm not meant to be the light because His light shines through me as He counsels me wonderfully, is my Mighty God that I should mean nothing to yet He loves me and saves me, my perfect Father that I will be with forever and my Prince of Peace. As my circumstances change, He remains the same. 

I started with John 1:1-5 and I want to end with it too. It says “the darkness cannot extinguish it.” In fact, the Hebrew word for light is “ohr” which means to illuminate or dispel darkness. I want to share this poem before we go into prayer time. God promises that His Son will rescue us from the darkness that overwhelms us whether it is sin, circumstances or our mind. Jesus brings the light to our life and Satan cannot extinguish it fully. He might cast a shadow, but it is still there. 

Jesus has always been and always will be. He was here in the beginning and will reign forever more. His life brings light to the darkness. What darkness are you letting defeat you? Are you going to let Him expose the darkness so that His light can shine through you?