The Light of Life
- Joe Palmisano
- Apr 14
- 3 min read
Theme: “When I fight, I fight on my knees”
Chapter Eight of Paul’s Letter to the Romans is like the reveal of a great painting or the crescendo of a Mozart symphony. Chapters One through Seven are the introduction, and then, Boom, the good news breaks forth like a thousand-member choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus.
After the words of the first seven chapters, Paul begins Chapter Eight with his familiar “therefore,” tying it all together and then explodes with the magnificent truth, “There is now no condemnation.” For whom? “For those who are in Christ Jesus.” What? That’s me! No condemnation? None?
Paul answers with a resounding yes by writing that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity of God, gives us life and sets us free from the “law of sin and death.” As Pastor Dan pointed out, this is the same “helper” that Jesus promised His disciples when He informed, He would soon be leaving them. This “helper” is the very Spirit of our Lord God and the light that the Apostle John so often writes about, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” And this light and life is now in us who believe.
Each of us is much like a single strand of a fiber-optic cable. Like the optical fiber, our existence is meaningless unless we conduct light. Like optical fiber, none of us have any light of our own. There is only one source of light, and that is Jesus.
As we allow God to use and flow through us as light, He shines through us in ways that enable the light to reach others.
Pastor Dan asked an initial question we must not ignore at this juncture. Are we willing to fight for our sanctification? Wait a minute. Didn’t Paul say that there was no condemnation? If so, why do I need to fight when I can coast?
What did I write for you about the fiber-optic cable? We are empty conduits without a light source. We have no real purpose without the light source. Life is meaningless without the life light flowing through us.
In addition to this, another dilemma is that we fiber-optic cables are coated with flesh, a natural light inhibitor. Paul warns us further in Chapter Eight, “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6 NIV)
Like Adam and Eve, our fleshy parents, we have free wills, and we can choose to grow our flesh or allow God to increase our spirits. If we grow our flesh, we will further insulate our spiritual fiber-optic cable and retard the flow of the Light of Life, and if we do this long enough, we will have no light visible to the world.
So, we must fight! How? By surrendering daily, hourly, and continually. We must kill our flesh and open it up so that the Source of our Light and Life can flow unimpeded through us, which is our only purpose, power, and strength. And like the lamp uncovered, only by the light of the Holy Spirit can we be the light of the world. Praise God from whom all Blessings and Light flow.
Scripture: 1 John 1:5-7 NIV
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Prayer:
Lord, is it any wonder the Apostle Paul had the impact for you that he did? He buffetted his flesh, constantly grasped at his death in writing Galatians 2:20, Philippians 1:21, Romans 14:8, and so many more. He, the other Apostles, and so many more knew their lives were meaningless without your Light shining through them. Lord, give us that same desperate desire, to know only You, the total surrender of all, and the shunning of the world system. I am nothing without you Lord. With You I am everything, but not me, but You living in me. Praise you and thank you Lord for taking me to the cross with you. In the precious name of JESUS! Amen
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