You are the Light of the World

 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn 8:12 NIV

Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. Ps 97:11 NASB95

When you receive the New Life that can only be found in Jesus, God transforms your heart and soul. God comes into your life.

God is light and he wants to shine in you. He wants to make your whole life shine.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Cor 5:17 NRSV

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Is 60:1 NRSV

Sometimes this transformation is immediate and dramatically visible, but sometimes a newly converted Christian changes step by step.

I know a Christian woman in Germany who used to visit brothels. She invited a prostitute to a church service. In the middle of the service, the prostitute suddenly stood up. She shouted loudly: ``Now I believe in Jesus. I want to be baptised now.

Another prostitute started attending a church. She began to believe. She tried to be kind, sincere and gentle.

Then she started donating in the church. Finally she plucked up the courage to leave the brothel behind.

When did she actually become a Christian? Only God knows.

Will you allow Jesus to love with you and through you to reach the lost people around you?

You may want to genuinely love other people like Jesus, but you cannot love like Jesus without receiving the love of God from Jesus himself.

In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 Jn 4:10 NRSV

The heart of the Christian life is to receive God's love every day and to pass it on every day.

Love Your Neighbour

 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Gal 5:14 NIV

I must love my neighbour, says Jesus.
Who is my neighbour?

• My neighbour is my workmate or my boss.

• My neighbour is the pimp who kidnaps my daughter.

• My neighbour is the homosexual who wants to seduce my son.

• My neighbour is the terrorist who threatens me.

• My neighbour is the prostitute down the street.

A Christian woman had a daughter who went astray. She had a bad boyfriend who led her away from God's ways.

Then the unthinkable happened. The mother heard that the bad boyfriend had murdered her daughter. She was devastated.

On the way home, the Holy Spirit spoke to her heart. She must forgive the murderer. But not only that, she must visit him in prison. Then the challenge became really extreme. She had to accept him into her heart as her own son.

She couldn't do it all. She prayed fervently for the help of the Holy Spirit and received the grace to do the impossible.

As she continued to visit the man in prison and pray for him with God's love, his heart softened and he turned to Jesus.

After many years, he was released from prison. Now the mother and adopted son are a team. They go around sharing their testimony.

Should we pray for our enemies? According to Jesus, yes. But should we seek close friendship with every prostitute and drug dealer? Of course not.

If your husband rapes you, throws you against the wall and brutally hurts you over and over again, should you stay with him? Of course not.

It's about placing your heart in the hands of Jesus so that God can cleanse your soul of resentment.

God is love. You can ask God to help you see difficult people through the eyes of God's love.

God Transforms your Past

 Not only Jesus himself, but also John the Baptist lived a holy life from an early age.

When the priest Zechariah was serving in the temple, he was visited by an angel who announced the birth of John the Baptist.

... he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 

He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. Lk 1:15–16 NIV 

If you have lived close to God from an early age, you can praise and thank God for that, but that is not my story.

But God has planned my life. He has also woven the failures and missteps of my childhood and youth into his plan for my Christian life. That's his way of doing things.

Milly Bennitt's parents were deeply committed Christians, but she was a rebellious party girl.

When she was about twenty years old, her father was dying. She came home to say goodbye. Then God miraculously answered her parents' prayers.

As her father passed on to the next life, he raised his arms and his face shone with the glory of God. Milly was deeply touched and became a believer.

She fell in love with Jesus, but Milly still had no time for rigid religious conformity.

She often sat in the garden, smoked a cigarette and had loving conversations with Jesus. One day Jesus said to her, ‘You don't need those cigarettes anymore,’ and she was able to give up smoking without much difficulty.

She loved Jesus with all her heart, but she was not a conventional young Christian. She was passionate about driving her sports car, but she was much more excited about heavenly visitations and miracles.

God had a plan for this party girl. He sent her as a missionary to a tourist island in Thailand where there was no church and no mission.

She didn't plant a church. She was just friendly. As a former party girl, it was not difficult for her to make friends with all kinds of people, whether Muslims, Buddhists or secular tourists.

Her mission was so successful that Muslims became Christians. Then she was harshly persecuted by strict Muslims. They wanted to murder her. One day she was ambushed. She stared death in the eye, but instantly became invisible.

Is that biblical? Yes, it is.

When Jesus preached in his hometown, he was cruelly rejected.

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.

They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Lk 4:28–30 NIV

I once went to an excellent Christian conference where the senior pastor was converted in prison and the outstanding guest preacher had been a gangster and a pimp.  

A very sinful woman was devoted to Jesus. How did He respond?

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Lk 7:47–48 NIV

Does your past still trouble you in some way? 

 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Ps 147:3 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28 NIV

 

Justice, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

 Reconciliation is God's plan. Discord is not part of his nature. He does not bear grudges.

God is love and he loves all people.

God sent his only eternal Son to suffer and die for you and me.
Why did Jesus have to die to forgive us?

We need forgiveness and God always wanted and wants to forgive, but God is also just.

Jesus was humble and always sought reconciliation, but he never stopped demanding justice.

God's way of thinking is radically different.

A young woman in America was raised Christian, but she fell in love with a man who led her astray.

Her Christian mother never stopped praying for her, but one day she was confronted with a nightmare. Her daughter was murdered by her boyfriend.

The man had to stay in prison for years.

The mother of the deceased young woman was heartbroken, but then she received an unthinkable instruction from the Holy Spirit.

She was not only to forgive the murderer, but to visit him in prison. She was to help him and learn to love him as her own son.

Little by little, the evil man felt God's love and grace more and more until he finally repented and converted.

He was released from prison, and the mother of the murdered woman helped him to rebuild his life. Now they are travelling around and giving their testimony.

The murderer had to suffer in prison for years. That was justice.

But the mother of the deceased young woman adopted him and loved him until he repented and received God's grace. That is reconciliation.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Rom 5:10 NRSV

Why did Jesus have to die? Because God demands justice. Sin must be punished.

Jesus died to take our punishment upon himself, so that if we repent, we will not suffer God's punishment in hell.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God loves all people, but you are not just a specimen of humanity. God loves you personally.

Do you want to repent now and ask for God's forgiveness?

Paul was very religious but not a nice person until he had a visitation from Jesus Himself.
Years later he wrote.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Cor 5:20 NIV

Near Death Experience. Poisoned. Dead. Revived.

Phineas had heard about near-death experiences, but he didn't believe in them. He thought these people were nutcases or fanatics.

Then he made a terrible mistake. He wanted to kill wasps in his garage, but he poisoned himself in the process.

He didn't realise what had happened to him until he became terribly sick that night. Two emergency doctors struggled to keep him alive.
 
His consciousness became hazy and foggy, and then he left his body.

The pain was gone, and he felt a sense of lightness. He was no longer in his body, but he was amazed that he could think clearly.

Suddenly, he was enveloped in an indescribably bright light. He felt as if he had been reborn.
Then he felt himself moving rapidly somewhere, until suddenly he was sitting on a beautiful green meadow on the banks of a river.

This must be heaven. He felt somehow cleansed and purified.

He saw a shimmering wall of pearl-like gemstones beyond the river.
He wanted to go there, but he couldn't.

Then he was struck by the indescribable light and love that must be God's presence. He was totally overwhelmed, and he was desperate not to return to his earthly life.
 
But suddenly he was in an ambulance looking at his own body.
A nurse was massaging his heart.

He hadn't been breathing for five minutes. Should she continue?
``Of course,`` replied the doctor.

When he was taken into the operating theatre, he was still hovering three metres above his body and watching everything.

Shortly before the end of the operation, his spirit sprang back into his body.

Two days later, he woke up. He then had to wait ten days before he was allowed to go home.

A nurse asked him why he was smiling happily the whole time, but he wouldn't or couldn't explain it.

He got well again. That was also a miracle.

He was back to his old life, but he was no longer the same man.

He was able to receive and give love like never before. He never spoke a bad word. His new character was characterised by love, patience and human understanding.

He was a transformed man and everyone around him was amazed.

But he couldn't explain it. He felt no one would understand or believe him.

Until his own journey to the afterlife, he had thought such testimonies were over the top.

He could not find the words to relate his experience. He tried sometimes, but he immediately burst into tears.

He came to the point where he was desperate to finally explain his new life to his family. He prayed every night and every morning for God's help.
Then God's answer came.

At a birthday party, a woman told him about a book by Don Piper.
``90 Minutes in Heaven.‘’

The next morning he bought the book. Everything in the book confirmed his own experience. Now all his doubts were gone and he also understood how he could tell his story.

He knew that God had sent him back to make the reality of heaven known.
He now wants to explain to everyone that God sent his own Son to us to die on the cross and thereby take all our sins upon himself.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Phineas experienced God's presence and love in paradise, and now he wants to invite you to get to know Jesus as your Saviour.

‘Jesus Christ, I want to get to know you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I will now open the door of my heart and acknowledge you as my Saviour and Guide. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. I surrender my life to you and ask you to guide my thoughts, my words and my actions, every day, every hour, every second of my life. Amen.’

Toscani, Gabriel. And then there was light: 35 people, all of whom were clinically dead, tell what they saw and experienced ‘on the other side’. Some were in paradise, others in hell. (German Edition) . Kindle Edition.

Reaching Difficult People

 I was in a wonderful church for a few years where all kinds of people were welcome, strange looking people, prostitutes and ex-prisoners.

There was a man in the community who had spent 23 years in prison. He was probably a murderer.

He regularly visited prisons and often brought ex-prisoners to the church meetings..

This man's previous life was undoubtedly terrible, but after his conversion he was like an angel to broken men.

When Jesus was a guest of a Pharisee, a woman came in who was living a sinful life.

As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Lk 7:38 NIV

The religious host was indignant.

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Lk 7:40–43 NIV

The Pharisee was probably shocked when Jesus then explained that the woman's sins had been forgiven.

The religious types said that Jesus was a friend of sinners, but in their eyes that was not a compliment. But God is very different from many religious legalists and perfectionists.

How can we apply this approach of Jesus today?

I know women who visit brothels and help prostitutes with kindness, but not all Christians can do that, and many Christians should not.

I have once visited a pub and had friendly conversations with a New Age mystic. Not all Christians can or should not try this.

A man in our church told of a friend who rented a house where the neighbours made his life a living hell. He prayed regularly for the neighbours and treated them politely. Little by little, bad neighbours became human and friendly.

If you treat all kinds of people with respect and kindness, you will sometimes be amazed at how God can transform evil people.

But we also have to be careful.

There are people who only want to manipulate and exploit you. Beware of narcissists with cold hearts.

There are also self-centred criminals who go to church to find sexual victims, especially children and young women.

Not only men can be dangerous, but also some evil women.

I know a Christian couple who always wanted to be kind and help outsiders. They regularly drove a couple to church services, but it turned out that the woman was a witch who was causing great harm in the church.

Dangerous people can be outsiders who attend church services, but there are also priests or preachers who are really wolves in sheep's clothing.

Beware of preachers who want to dominate and personally control everything and everyone in the church, no matter how holy they may appear.