Light and Darkness

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus in John 8:12

I was reflecting on these words. Darkness...what is it like to walk in darkness? Being legally blind in my right eye, I struggle to see when it gets dark, not even completely dark just mostly dark. I can't sense subtle, or not so subtle, changes in incline. I will not notice holes in the ground. I will run into things on my right side and if a tree branch is too low, I might run into that too because I am missing a lot of my peripheral vision as well.

Think about walking in total darkness. What about a place you are only vaguely familiar with that has  a lot of people, chairs, tables?  Like me, I would think you would be concerned that you would run into something and hurt yourself, or run into someone and hurt them. It would be very difficult to go to the right place and you would have to proceed with extreme caution.

Jesus is the light of the world. If we are following him, we will not be walking in darkness. He has life-giving light that will keep us from hurting ourselves or others. With his light we can be sure to go the right direction and we can proceed with confidence, because the path is clear. Ephesians 2:10 came to mind: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I'm going to end with John 1:4-5: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.