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The Journey

Lesson from Moths (John 3:16-21)

The worst thing about summer nights are all the insects that seem to gather around the light. We have to be quick to shut the doors at night, or else our houses and cars would be filled with moths and “June” bugs. I really never thought that these annoying beings could teach us anything about life, but then I have found that I am wrong about many things.

Today I consider John 3:16-21, probably the most well known passage in the new testament yet do we understand it?

The fundimentals of the Gospel of Jesus is not that he died for our sins. Sure that’s part of it, but that is not the whole story. The main point is that Jesus came to the world. Have you ever thought of that? Jesus came; He taught, healed, turned water to wine, through tables, and died to shed light on our actions. I’m blown away by this.

Yet we forget this in all the religious aspect of faith. The lists of deeds that show devotion and the acts of service. These are good but are empty without the heart of the message. Jesus came to bring light but we loved darkness because our deeds were evil. This is where moths can teach us a thing or two. It is in their nature to gather around the light. It is annoying but it does show us something about our own natures. We get annoyed by light in many ways. We get annoyed by peopel that gather around the light, especially if they don’t gather around the light like we do. Moths don’t care they gather and want to get as close as posible. They will do whatever they can to get closer to the light. Yet we try to keep them away.

Many groups focus on the judgement of God. I think this misses the point. The gospel is that the Light came to the world not to condemn but to love and share. We condemn ourseleve through our actions. And how we embrace the light. Do we flap our arms to shoo people away or are we doing all we can to get closer and bring other with us?

Today I encourage you to examine your life as I will my own. Are my deeds pointing to the Light or am I pointing to darkness? Do I hide my actions or am I glad to admit to what I do?

May the Light of God shine on you this day!

About jwquaker

I’m sure everyone wants to know who I am…well if you are viewing this page you do. I’m Jared Warner and I am a pastor or minister recorded in the Evangelical Friends Church Mid America Yearly Meeting. To give a short introduction to the EFC-MA, it is a group of evangelical minded Friends in the Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado. We are also a part of the larger group called Evangelical Friends International, which as the name implies is an international group of Evangelical Friends. For many outside of the Friends or Quaker traditions you may ask what a recorded minister is: the short answer is that I have demistrated gifts of ministry that our Yearly Meeting has recorded in their minutes. To translate this into other terms I am an ordained pastor, but as Friends we believe that God ordaines and mankind can only record what God has already done. More about myself: I have a degree in crop science from Fort Hays State University, and a masters degree in Christian ministry from Friends University. Both of these universities are in Kansas. I lived most of my life in Kansas on a farm in the north central area, some may say the north west. I currently live and minister in the Kansas City, MO area and am a pastor in a programed Friends Meeting called Willow Creek Friends Church.

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