Homelessness prevalent.
Prostitution common.
Adultery routine.
Extortion of your fellow countrymen standard.
Crime habitual.
The sick separated and untouched.
Religious leaders controlling and uncaring.
The government abusive and corrupt.
Ethnic discord.
The world dark. Very dark.
Is this a description of present day America? Nope. First century Jerusalem.
And it was in the midst of the darkness, God loved. So loved.
The world deserved judgment but God sent Mercy and Grace.
The world needed condemning but God sent Compassion.
The world was full of darkness so God sent Light.
The world was at its worse but God sent His Best.
The world was hurting so God sent a Healer.
The world was divided so God sent a Reconciliator.
The world was hopeless so God sent Hope.
The world had lost its way so God sent a Savior.
The world was full of hatred but God loved and sent Love.
It seems the darkness in the world today is not much different than first century Jerusalem. But there is one significant difference….Jesus is here. He lives within us. So we, you and I, His body, His church, have been sent into this dark world to
Show mercy when the world needs judgment.
Demonstrate compassion when the world needs condemning.
Be light in the darkness.
Be His Best when the world is at its worse.
Heal those who are hurting.
Reconcile those who are divided.
Preach Hope to the hopeless.
Point the lost to Jesus.
Love in the midst of fear, hatred, and corruption.
God is sending the Jesus-In-Us” into this dark world. And like Jesus, we are not being sent to condemn the world but that the world through us might have a saving knowledge of God.
Yes, Jesus is coming back but until He comes, we have been sent into this very dark world to be light. My brother and my sisters, occupy until Jesus comes back.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
John 3:16-17 NKJV