light of life

Devotional

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John1:4

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
John 8:12

I once found myself driving through an unfamiliar area in the dark, with no streetlights in sight. For over two hours, I kept moving, tracing what seemed like familiar landmarks; ⁷only to realise I had made little progress and was nearly back where I started. I was moving, but without direction. Motion doesn’t always equal progress. Busyness doesn’t guarantee clarity. We can be very active and still be very lost.

This is what Jeremiah recognised when he cried out, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” Jeremiah 10:23.

The direction we’re travelling in life is not determined by how much we move, how much we know, or how confident we appear; not willpower, education, or activity alone; Those may serve as familiar landmarks, but only one thing gives true light: how deeply we trust the word of God.

Psalm 119:105 declares, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Without the word of God, even the most confident steps are taken in the dark; without the light, we stumble, we guess, we wander.

The world we live in is not dark because the sun has stopped shining; it’s dark because of deception, confusion, and a flood of information and misinformation. Today, decisions often require navigating layers of complexity and competing voices. In this climate, the word of God is not optional; it is essential.

But here’s the more serious challenge of our generation: many have been taught to treat the word of God like a microwave: instant results, quick encouragement, surface-level fixes. And when that doesn’t work, especially for young people, they leave, disillusioned. But the word of God was never meant to be a convenience item; it’s a seed. It must be sown, watered and waited on. It takes discipline, time, and heart engagement.

Nobody says, “I read Psalm 3 and got a job,” or “I opened the book of Jude and my spouse appeared.” That’s not how light works. Light grows as our relationship with the word deepens. Direction comes not from dabbling but from dwelling. The word becomes a lamp to your feet when it becomes life to your soul.