Light from darkness -- lightmagazine@gideons.ca

When people think about the Bible, they often think of it as a spiritual instruction guide or a book of things that Christians are supposed to do.  However, Christ Himself tells us that the Scriptures are not about Christians at all; they are about Him and what He came to do -- an epic story with Christ as the central theme from beginning to end (Luke 24:25,27,44-47)

The Bible is made up of 66 books written by about forty different authors over a period of approximately 1500 years.  The Spirit of God superintended the writing of all 66 books, which is why they are all telling the same story:

Christ, the light of the world came into our darkness.  He came into our suffering and sin to give us His life.  Today we have over 34,000 historic manuscripts of the Old Testament and New Testament that all align to bring unbelievably good news:

Christ Jesus, the light of the world, can overcome the darkness of our sin.

The human problem is not outside us (our environment), nor are the answers within us (sin); our answer is outside us (a Saviour).

Because all humanity was condemned when Adam sinned at the beginning of creation, sin is not simply an act, but the condition we are all born into.  We don't need to look far to see the effects of sin in our world.  Nobody is perfect, yet perfection is precisely what a perfect God requires from us.

Therefore, God lovingly planned to send His light -- Christ -- into our darkness to pay the price for our sin, accomplishing it by His perfect life, sacrificial death and divine resurrecution.  Placing our faith in Christ takes us from darkness and brings us into light, freeing us from the death penalty of our sin.

Nobody lives forever on earth, but we who hope in Christ have assurance that our end is not darkness and death -- it is light and eternal life.  This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Character development

Two good books to study in this area are:

"Experiencing the Spirit" by Henry and Melvin Blackaby
and
"Growing Kingdom character" by Tom Yeakley

http://www.familyreunionmusic.com/article/128/music/del-friends/i-heard-about