Light for My Life

Ps 119:97-105

 

1. Janet Cooke, a Washington Post reporter, was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Award in 1981 for her sensational article entitled “Jimmy’s World”. It was about Jimmy, 8 years old boy who became a heroine addict by the influence of his mother’s drug-addicted boyfriend. This article raised a passionate movement to save such young victims of drug traffic cycle. However, it was confirmed that the story was made up and also she lied in several things. As the result, Janet was fired, the award was withdrawn, and she was disappeared. Later, she was found in our city Kalamazoo and she was working as a saleswoman at Marshall Field’s cosmetic counter.

2. We humans are searching for truth. We are angry when we are deceived. But the most tragic misery is that we are deceived but we do not recognize it even to death. For example, Communism and Nazism deceived so many people and they gladly devoted their lives even to kill so many fellow human beings. In the human history, so many kingdoms and empires deceived people that they will not perish forever, demanding total dedication and absolute loyalty. But all those kingdoms have perished. So many ideologies, philosophies, and enterprises have deceived human race until now, and such deception will continue and victimize humanity.

3. Even if we are not Diogenes, a Greek philosopher, who walked an Athens street with a lamp under the daylight, we know that the true light for our life is not physical light but the light of Truth. When Jesus came to the world, he found that this world was so dark under the deception of the evil spirit, the power of darkness. Therefore, salvation was the gift of light so that we humans would be able to see the truth about this world and ourselves. So Jesus said that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:32)

4. Psalmist proclaims that “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”(105) As Jesus said that “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth,”(John 17:17) the Truth that will set us free is the Word of God. No word of man is fully dependable. Every human is born without any knowledge, and learn one by one from people around without really examining whether it is true or false. Therefore, the young are easily failed and mistaken. However, even teachers and elders are but humans! If we are better to listen to the older, more learned or more experienced, it is best to listen to God. So, Psalmist is strongly convinced that we will be far better when we follow the Word of God than anybody else: “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.”(98-100) Professor William Phelps of Yale, the so-called the most beloved professor in America, preferred the Bible without college course to college education without the Bible.

5. In fact, humans are all blind. We are born with some preset structure, and we judge everything by our own standard. But there is no guarantee that it is true. If our born structure or innate preconception is wrong, as the Bible strongly affirms, humans are permanently under the cycle of falsehood. Moreover, we humans are deceived by the Great Deceiver, Satan who has far higher intelligence than any humans and capability to orchestrate the structural deception of the human race. Only the Holy Spirit will liberate this false cycle of deception, and Jesus Christ is the door to the true freedom. Therefore, He invited humanity to Him: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”(John 14:6)

6. In this year, our congregation set the goal to arise and shine the light: first the light of the Gospel for evangelism and mission, second the light of love for helping the needy neighbors, and third the light of truth for faith, love, and hope. While the first and the second goals are for outreach, the third goal is for us ourselves. If we do not let the light of truth brightly shine upon us, the first and the second goals would not be richly achieved.

7. Love the Word of God! Let the Truth shine upon your whole life always! Then, your life will be full of faith, love, and hope, three signs of living in the true light, in Christ. To make it happen, first, love to read, listen and meditate the Scripture, as Psalmist said: “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.”(97) Second, obey it and practice in your life: “I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.” Make God your supreme Teacher and the Bible as your primary Manual. Third, enjoy every letter of the Word: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”(103)