To my eye and spirit, one of the most beautiful things in God’s creation is early morning light. Walking in the quiet morning, just as light drifts through our little village on the hill and before the traffic and noise of the day begins, I almost feel reborn. It is a new day, a new beginning, coming with morning light.

We see nothing without light. Yes, you can live without sight, but how our lives are enriched by the ability to see! I’m convinced sight is like our brain—we use only a small portion of the possibilities.

But even our “seeing” does not show us everything held by light. Light holds life. We may not understand all the chemical processes that sustain life, but we know light is essential for growth and health of living things. Many of us even feel a change in moods dependent on the light; we’re like little plants that constantly turn toward the light, seeking its life-giving rays.

Think about color. We see color constantly; it’s a part of our lives that we don’t stop to think about; yet without light, colors fade and blur. Light holds an unseen cache that splashes into our world. An exquisite rainbow reminds us that light holds much more than we can see. 

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” He was not only the light that showed us God, He is the light that brings life. And His mission was not only to bring life, but to give a rich and satisfying life.

The life Jesus gives is like light, holding and giving more richness and fullness than we can describe or even imagine. If you have been thinking this week about everything Jesus supplies, you are beginning to catch a glimpse of the vibrancy his light brings.

And just as we can’t imagine living in this world without light, I can’t imagine living without the light that leads to life.

For you have rescued me from death, you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.

Scripture: John 8:12, John 10:10, Psalm 56:13 (all NLT)

The year was — oh, decades and decades ago, in those faraway days when I was a young teenager. I sat in the sweltering church balcony and listened to the evangelist talk about the wrath of God and punishment in hell. His text was based on one of the Beatitudes, the pure in heart shall see God. And that night, I “accepted Christ” because when I died, I wanted to see God instead of burning in hell, thank you.

And for many years after, I thought the reason I came to Jesus was because I was afraid of hell. But now I look back and see that the Spirit had much more planned for me.

Oh, yes, Jesus certainly did rescue me from the punishment I deserve for all the nasty stuff I’ve done. (Thank you, Lord!) But eventually the time came when I ran to Christ. I ran, because I wanted the promise in that verse preached on that long ago night. Now, my motivation is not so much to escape the fires of hell, but — I want to see God.

Years ago, my mom had a scrap of paper on her bulletin board with this verse, printed in her unique style:

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

I had little comprehension, as a young woman, of what that note meant to my mom. Now, decades later, I think I know.

Because I, too, want to see God and to live in his house all the days of my life. Not in my future life, but all the days of my life on this earth. Here. Now.

I need to know my Father.

Jesus came to earth to show us God the Father. When the old man named Simeon first held the baby Jesus, he said, “He is a light to reveal God to the nations.” The word translated as “reveal” means to show something that has previously been hidden or secret. Jesus himself said, time and again, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God. If you trust me, you are trusting God. I am the way to the Father.”

I want to know God. And Christ is the One who reveals the Father. He opened the way to God. He is the only way. “No one can come to the Father,” he said, “except through me.”

It’s interesting that Jesus also said, “For no one can come to me unless the Father draws them to me…” That may seem contradictory unless you can have faith that Jesus and God and the Spirit are one. God draws us to himself through the Spirit, and Jesus opens the way for us to come into God’s presence, unhindered by guilt and sin.

Many of us were “scared into the kingdom,” becoming Christians because we were afraid of the wrath of God and punishment in hell. But now, the thing that holds me, the reason I cling to Christ, the Spirit, and God’s Word is because I want to know God.

Did you do your assignment this week? Have you been thinking about Jesus supplying everything you need? This is at the top of my list: Jesus flung open the door and cleared the way for me to come to my Father, so that I can dwell in his house all the days of my life.

Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him.

May all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you.
May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “God is great!”

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Scripture: Psalm 27:4 (NIV), Luke 2:32, John 14:6, John 6:44, Psalm 105:4, Psalm 70:4 (all NLT)

My grandson wanted music as we drove, so I pulled out a CD and inserted it in the player. Children’s voices floated through the van. One of the first phrases I heard is still echoing in my brain, a week later. “Jesus is the source of all I need.”

Wow. What a big idea for the two-year-old in the back seat. What a big idea for this grandma, much older than two!

As a matter of fact, Jesus said his purpose was to give us even more than we need. He wants to give everyone who comes to him a rich and satisfying life.

What do you need to have a rich and satisfying life? Is Jesus the source of that? Perhaps it is not the things we need in life, but the person. The Gospels are full of Jesus’ words that tell us what He is and what He supplies for us.

Here are three:

Peace – “I am leaving you with a gift,” Jesus said, “peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Healing – The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Freedom – God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Wow. Christ bought our freedom so we can be children of God. 

I’m still pondering this, trying to put into words everything that Christ supplies in my life. These three things are just the beginning of my list, off the top of my head, things that have been very important to me.

Give me a few more days, and the list will be much longer. That’s not even touching all the promises about the One I follow someday returning for ME and giving me eternal life.

Pages and pages could be written about what Christ brings to us. Oh, wait. I guess they have already been written— you’ll find all the details in the Scriptures.

Take time to think about this. Make your own list and re-read or write down the Scriptures and promises explaining what Christ supplies to you, details of how He gives you a rich and satisfying life.

That life is your inheritance, child of God.

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Scriptures: John 10:10; John 14:27; Isaiah 53:5; Galatians 4:5 (all NLT)

Children come inside after playing in the snow. They wiggle and twist, escaping heavy coats and snowsuits, then throw those burdens aside and head for toys in the warmth of the house.

A room strewn with cast off clothing might not be the scene parents desire. But it is certainly what God wants to see as His children live their resurrected lives.

The problem comes when the coat zipper is stuck.

Every one of us still has things in our lives that are so un-Christlike, those things that need to die, the old nature that rises up in revolt against the rule of the Spirit.

Until the end of our earthly days, the enemy of our souls will continue to use those things in his plot to destroy us.

The book of Colossians talks at length about living a new, resurrected life. Get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language, (3:8), lying, greed, immorality, and lust. (Read that slowly and check any that have already popped into your week.)

Instead, God says, show tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (3:12) Forgive each other, love each other, live in peace, be thankful.

Whew. How do we free ourselves of malice or rage? How do we handle anger, our immediate reaction to daily frustration? How do we control those urges to say nasty things about someone who has been nasty to us? How can we be patient when people are so aggravating? How can we possibly forgive someone who has hurt us deeply? How do we show kindness and mercy when our old nature, instead, wants to fight back and take revenge?

Some Scriptures make it sound so easy. “Throw off your old nature.” In another place, “Strip off” the old habits. Just like the children who fling away heavy coats and hats, we’re told to shed our old selfish and evil behavior.

But sometimes my old nature wraps me tightly, like a coat with a zipper that sticks and refuses to let me free myself.

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God–truly righteous and holy.
Eph. 4:21-24 NLT

There it is again. Our new nature is created to be like God. We’re resurrected to be like Christ.

And here’s the only way we can escape the stuck zippers: Let the Spirit of God change your thoughts and attitudes, giving you a new nature, freeing you from the old.

How does that work exactly? We don’t know. It is a choice we make, to let the Spirit renew us. The Spirit’s work is like the wind, Jesus says. You can see the evidence of it …

But here’s one clue —

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
(Colossians 3:10)

All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
(Colossians 1:10)

Aha. So learning to know our Creator also has the effect of changing us, renewing us, making us new people.

I want to know the Father better.

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Scripture: Colossians 3:1-17

Let’s just start off by saying that I can’t explain so many things … the Trinity, for one. How do you explain God, Jesus, Holy Spirit as being three and yet being one?

Another thing I can’t explain: the secret. But I know there is one, and I know it’s powerful.

And what I am going to write might sound contradictory in places, unless you believe that Three are One. But how? I don’t know. I only know that the Word says this is so.

And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
(Colossians 1:27b)

This is one of those phrases that many Christians have known since childhood. We sang songs inviting Jesus into our hearts. It rolls easily off our tongues, but I suspect we have no idea of the power of this fact: Christ lives in you.

Listen to one of the last things Jesus said to His disciples, just hours before he died:

Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you…All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.

 We have a life that is given only to those who believe. We have a life given by the Spirit, a life that was resurrected from deadness. That’s not just a future resurrection after physical death—this is a life that we have now, a part of us that once was dead but now lives because the Spirit of God has come and made His home within us.

Jesus talks about this relationship we have with Him in the same way He describes His relationship with the Father. I am in my Father and you are in me, and I am in you. I cannot explain it. What does it mean that Jesus says He and the Father will make their home with us? I don’t think we can even begin to see the magnitude of what Jesus was saying.

But as the Spirit shows us more and more of this secret, it will change the way we view our relationship to Christ. Christ was God in the flesh. Now Christ’s Spirit lives within you, and you are a part of how He works here on earth today.

You are not a small, sinful human trying to approach and appease a fearsome god — you are part of Christ Himself, a chosen child of God. The Spirit of God lives within you. Jesus said, I am in you.

You, child of God, can say with Paul,

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

This is a huge claim. And yet, what a promise to grab — that Christ lives in you, that the life you’re living is Christ’s life. The part of you that was completely dead is now resurrected, reclaimed, alive, brought to life and sustained by the Spirit of the Almighty God.

Wow. God adopted us, brought us into his family, made us his children. Resurrected us, gave us life.

The Lord we follow says, Since I live, you will also live.

The Apostle Paul says, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.”

Me too! Me too!

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Scripture: John 14:19-20,23, Galatians 2:20a, Philippians 3:10 (all NLT)