Advent Day 6: John 3:16-21

Read and Journal

Read John 3:16-21. Meditate on these questions:

• What does this passage teach you about Jesus? About His purpose? His character?

• What do these verses teach you about yourself?

• Take note of what these verses say about light and darkness. What words or actions characterize the darkness? What about the light?

Ponder

In the opening of his Gospel, John had introduced the themes of light and darkness, but now, in Chapter 3, he expanded on them. Actions reveal the truth of who people really are, John wrote. Darkness, hating, and doing evil are set opposite the light, living by the truth, and works done through God.1

On our own, our nature is to love darkness. We are sinful people living in a sinful world. We cannot reach God through our own innate goodness (we have none) or our own good works or righteousness (they are like “filthy rags,” Isa. 64:6). Jesus is the Light who has come into the world to help us see how to live by the truth, to empower us to do good works, to allow Him to work through us. Our attempts to be righteous in our own strength, power, and goodness will always fail—but the Light has come.

In the darkness of sin, at just the right time, God sent His Son into the world—not to condemn the world, but to redeem us. We need Jesus. We need the cross and His sacrifice on our behalf. We need the light that only He can bring into our lives that empowers us to live in ways that please and honor God while also shining His light into the lives of others. The Light has come, and you are His reflection. Let Him shine through you today.

1 Gerald L. Borchert. North American Commentary, Volume 24A: John 1-11. (Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville, Tenn., 1996). Accessed 8 May 2021.