John 12:35 Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
Those are very true words my Friends, spoken by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the feast of the Passover tell Philip they want to meet Jesus. Philip tells Andrew, then they both go and tell Jesus. And what’s His response? ‘The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.’ (John 12:23) He knew that both His suffering and glory were imminent and began talking to the crowd about seeds having to die before they could bear fruit; and those who like the life of this world shall lose it, while those who hate it shall keep it eternally; and if any man serves Him, he must follow where He leads, and who ever does so will be honoured by the Father. Jesus also acknowledges that His spirit is troubled by the upcoming events, but He couldn’t very well ask the Father for a reprieve since to suffer, die, rise and ascend were the express purposes for which He came to earth. Then He asked the Father to glorify His name, and a voice from heaven did so. Some of the people said it was thunder, others said an angel spoke to Him. Jesus though told them that the voice came for their sake not His, so that they might remember and believe when the things He spoke about happened. (John 12:24-32) But the people were confused by His words, and said to Him: ‘We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?’ (John 12:34) The people, many with little or no education, were suffering from information overload; stuff coming at them from all sides, supposedly on the same topic, the Messiah, but none of it meshing. The Old Testament law taught them one thing, now Jesus was telling them something entirely different, which sounded outlandish and rather far out. That’s because the Messiah was originally touted as a great warrior king who would come and free them physically from their oppressors. No one expected a lowly carpenter’s son to be their saviour, and at that only a spiritual saviour, not one to improve their physical plight. Understandably, with the rough times they were suffering, the people were more concerned with their physical plight than the spiritual, just like many of us are today. But Friends, we now know better. We know that our spiritual life is every bit as, if not more important than our earthly lives. Sadly though, many of us are still confused about Jesus, and the information overload in this Information Age doesn’t help matters either. It’s at that point Jesus told them; ‘Yet a little while is the light with you.’ Many didn’t understand that Jesus was the light John the Baptist was sent to bear witness of. ‘That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him; and the world knew him not.’ (John 1:9-10) So true. Earlier on Jesus had told them; ‘Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.’ (John 7:33-34) The Jews took to wondering where He would go so that they couldn’t find Him, if it was amongst the Gentiles. Then He ‘confuffled’ them even more by saying; ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ (John 8:12) Now, on this Palm Sunday, with His crucifixion upcoming, He’s telling them that the light was only with them for a short time, so they should ‘Walk while ye have light, lest darkness come upon you.’ Now we all know that’s very true. It only makes sense to walk when we have light in the physical sense. But Jesus’ listeners didn’t understand that he was referring to light in the spiritual realm: To walk with Him; with His Spirit and His teaching leading their lives. As Bruh Paul said to the Ephesians: ‘For ye were sometimes (once) darkness,but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.’ (Eph.5:8) And Friends, that’s exactly what we need to do in these dark, evil, ungodly times: all God’s children need to walk in the light, have the light of Jesus’ Spirit shining brightly, in, through and out of us, so that the ungodly will see that we are indeed different, special, and want what we have. We can only make others believe by our constant and steadfast behaviour, which should be a total reflection of Jesus. For ‘He that walketh in darkness knoweth not wither he goeth.’ More truth my people. When we walk in darkness, whether physical or spiritual, we lose our way, our sense of direction, then trip, stumble and fall. That’s what happens when we walk with Lucifer, the prince of darkness. He doesn’t know where he’s going, so how can he lead us successfully. It’s like Jesus said, the blind leading the blind. But Jesus is the light, who cares for us all. He ends up this bit of teaching by telling the people: ‘While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light.’ (John 12:36) Of course not too many of those people back then understood or believed. But Friends today we know better, with the Spirit of Jesus, that light, coming to dwell in all believers. The problem though is that until we believe and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, that light doesn’t shine in us, which means we’re still walking in darkness. And sadly, my Friends, there are still too many people today, who don’t know Jesus and consequently are still walking with Beelzebub in darkness, tripping, stumbling and falling, and doing untold damage to their eternal lives. That’s why our world is such an evil, violent place, and it’s our duty to convince as many as possible that Jesus is indeed the way, the truth and the light, that he only has our best interests at heart, and until they too accept Him and get that brilliant light of His Spirit shining in them, they’ll continue walking fooled and blindfolded by the enemy until they fall into the abyss of eternal death and damnation. And Friends, please let them know that walking with Jesus doesn’t only pertain to their spiritual lives in the hereafter, but also enhances their physical lives in the here and now, because when we walk with the light of Jesus guiding us, instead of leading lives of evil, greed and violence, we live lives of LOVE. Walking with Jesus makes our lives better all around. So let’s continue doing our duty diligently; LOVING our God, SPREADING His Word and LIVING our Faith with the light of Jesus brilliantly shining forth. Much LOVE!…walking with Jesus…is like walking with your best friend…in a beautiful park…on a sunny day…
Those are very true words my Friends, spoken by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the feast of the Passover tell Philip they want to meet Jesus. Philip tells Andrew, then they both go and tell Jesus. And what’s His response? ‘The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.’ (John 12:23) He knew that both His suffering and glory were imminent and began talking to the crowd about seeds having to die before they could bear fruit; and those who like the life of this world shall lose it, while those who hate it shall keep it eternally; and if any man serves Him, he must follow where He leads, and who ever does so will be honoured by the Father. Jesus also acknowledges that His spirit is troubled by the upcoming events, but He couldn’t very well ask the Father for a reprieve since to suffer, die, rise and ascend were the express purposes for which He came to earth. Then He asked the Father to glorify His name, and a voice from heaven did so. Some of the people said it was thunder, others said an angel spoke to Him. Jesus though told them that the voice came for their sake not His, so that they might remember and believe when the things He spoke about happened. (John 12:24-32) But the people were confused by His words, and said to Him: ‘We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?’ (John 12:34) The people, many with little or no education, were suffering from information overload; stuff coming at them from all sides, supposedly on the same topic, the Messiah, but none of it meshing. The Old Testament law taught them one thing, now Jesus was telling them something entirely different, which sounded outlandish and rather far out. That’s because the Messiah was originally touted as a great warrior king who would come and free them physically from their oppressors. No one expected a lowly carpenter’s son to be their saviour, and at that only a spiritual saviour, not one to improve their physical plight. Understandably, with the rough times they were suffering, the people were more concerned with their physical plight than the spiritual, just like many of us are today. But Friends, we now know better. We know that our spiritual life is every bit as, if not more important than our earthly lives. Sadly though, many of us are still confused about Jesus, and the information overload in this Information Age doesn’t help matters either. It’s at that point Jesus told them; ‘Yet a little while is the light with you.’ Many didn’t understand that Jesus was the light John the Baptist was sent to bear witness of. ‘That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him; and the world knew him not.’ (John 1:9-10) So true. Earlier on Jesus had told them; ‘Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.’ (John 7:33-34) The Jews took to wondering where He would go so that they couldn’t find Him, if it was amongst the Gentiles. Then He ‘confuffled’ them even more by saying; ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ (John 8:12) Now, on this Palm Sunday, with His crucifixion upcoming, He’s telling them that the light was only with them for a short time, so they should ‘Walk while ye have light, lest darkness come upon you.’ Now we all know that’s very true. It only makes sense to walk when we have light in the physical sense. But Jesus’ listeners didn’t understand that he was referring to light in the spiritual realm: To walk with Him; with His Spirit and His teaching leading their lives. As Bruh Paul said to the Ephesians: ‘For ye were sometimes (once) darkness,but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.’ (Eph.5:8) And Friends, that’s exactly what we need to do in these dark, evil, ungodly times: all God’s children need to walk in the light, have the light of Jesus’ Spirit shining brightly, in, through and out of us, so that the ungodly will see that we are indeed different, special, and want what we have. We can only make others believe by our constant and steadfast behaviour, which should be a total reflection of Jesus. For ‘He that walketh in darkness knoweth not wither he goeth.’ More truth my people. When we walk in darkness, whether physical or spiritual, we lose our way, our sense of direction, then trip, stumble and fall. That’s what happens when we walk with Lucifer, the prince of darkness. He doesn’t know where he’s going, so how can he lead us successfully. It’s like Jesus said, the blind leading the blind. But Jesus is the light, who cares for us all. He ends up this bit of teaching by telling the people: ‘While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light.’ (John 12:36) Of course not too many of those people back then understood or believed. But Friends today we know better, with the Spirit of Jesus, that light, coming to dwell in all believers. The problem though is that until we believe and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, that light doesn’t shine in us, which means we’re still walking in darkness. And sadly, my Friends, there are still too many people today, who don’t know Jesus and consequently are still walking with Beelzebub in darkness, tripping, stumbling and falling, and doing untold damage to their eternal lives. That’s why our world is such an evil, violent place, and it’s our duty to convince as many as possible that Jesus is indeed the way, the truth and the light, that he only has our best interests at heart, and until they too accept Him and get that brilliant light of His Spirit shining in them, they’ll continue walking fooled and blindfolded by the enemy until they fall into the abyss of eternal death and damnation. And Friends, please let them know that walking with Jesus doesn’t only pertain to their spiritual lives in the hereafter, but also enhances their physical lives in the here and now, because when we walk with the light of Jesus guiding us, instead of leading lives of evil, greed and violence, we live lives of LOVE. Walking with Jesus makes our lives better all around. So let’s continue doing our duty diligently; LOVING our God, SPREADING His Word and LIVING our Faith with the light of Jesus brilliantly shining forth. Much LOVE!…walking with Jesus…is like walking with your best friend…in a beautiful park…on a sunny day…
SCRIP-BITS 