Jesus‘ light or Jesus-lite?

For with you is the fountain of life.  In your light, we see light (Ps. 36:9)

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (Jesus - John 8:12).

“For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 13:47).

“Skammdegi” is what the Icelanders call the deep winter days from December through mid-March.  It literally means “short day.”  It’s as if night has taken over parts of the day.  It appears to me at this time in our history that we are all living in a season of midwinter darkness where daylight is short and night is long.

The times are dark in our country.  Author J.R. Woodward writes that we are living in “a moment when the  Powers no longer bother to hide. … We are being asked to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears, to accept managed narratives in place of truth.”[1] How can I not stumble in these dark times when greed and violence are “justified”, and where the very foundations of decency and truth in our society seem to be crumbling?  How can I be part of the solution and not the problem?  Only by walking in Jesus’ light.

Light is sometimes in short supply in the church as well.  I returned from a trip to Iceland after having three conversations with believers who had been deeply wounded by church leaders.  One pastor spoke of being betrayed by his superior in a way that cost him the position he was seeking.  One church worker was dismissed from her job, when her pastor blamed her for mistakes the pastor had made.  A third spoke of losing her church leadership position while staff members who had sinned against her retained theirs.  Darkness often covers the failures of church leadership. Can I remain true when church leaders are mimicking the fallen principalities and powers of this world?  Yes, but only in Jesus’ light.

Jesus is the light of the world.  But so often I choose “Jesus-lite” instead of Jesus’ light.  A “Jesus” who demands nothing and who is simply a “tag along”, agreeing with my likes and dislikes, a convenient savior, is not the true light.  The Jesus, who is the light, is invasive.  He penetrates the darkness and shows me who I really am – a sinner in need of repentance, a little man who is constantly trying to protect his ego, a frightened boy who is afraid of being too vulnerable.  Jesus’ light penetrates the shadows of the powers as well and reveals the weakness of my ideologies which can easily set God aside. 

Is Jesus the light for me personally?  That is the question.  Jesus is speaking here of “the one who follows me.”  But what does it mean to follow him?  For these early disciples it meant that they would learn to think, speak and act like Jesus.  Even to suffer with him and know the power of resurrection. It cannot mean anything less to me.  The amazing promise is that if I am learning to do that, I will “not walk I darkness but have the light of life.” 

Speaking of Jesus’ light, one author said, “Light needs no witness, it demonstrates its reality by its own radiance.”[2] We are called to be the light of the world as Jesus was the light of the world. The friends and learners of Jesus, imperfect as we are, are made by God to be “a light to the nations.”  Only by receiving the light of Jesus, following that light and walking in it, will people be drawn to his radiance.  And that light overcomes the darkness.

Heavenly Father, help me to choose every day to turn from the darkness in myself and in this world to walk in the light of life, which is your Son.  Lord Jesus, teach me to listen.  Help me to think like you, speak like you and behave like you that I might be like you.  And Holy Spirit use all of us, friends and learners of Jesus, to indeed be the light of the world.  Amen!

[1] https://jrwoodward.substack.com/p/prophetic-discipleship-love-on-trial-f49.  Accessed Feb. 3, 2026.

[2]Merril Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948, 1978), 145