Today’s theme is discipleship. Disciples are followers of Jesus. The word follow has the meaning of one who catches by pursuit and cleaves.  You and are called to follow the Lord as one who is in pursuit, desiring to lay hold and once we do, do not let go!  Disciple also means learner under discipline.

As I read the following passage of scripture, I hear two things resonating. 1) a statement of hope, and 2) a charge of pursuit

12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

John 8:12  (NASB)

Our statement of hope is: Because He is the Light and His light now abides in me, I no longer have live in darkness and all that darkness brings into my life. My life will be illuminated, my pathway lit. Because, the greater the light, the greater the clarity in my life!

Our statement of pursuit is: Now that I have been granted His light, I must choose to live in the light and not allow darkness to swallow or diffuse the light that has been granted. 

The Apostle Paul says it like this in Ephesians 5:8-11 (NLT)

8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!  9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. 10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

Each of us shares the same hope, the hope that now that light has come, we do not have to fear the darkness or live in its wake.  We have the Light of the Lord within, to illuminate our life and bring clarity to our hearts and minds. No longer are we slaves to darkness, but children of the light.

As His disciples purchased with a great price, we must now pursue this life of light, by living as children of the light. How does one do that?  We do this by not taking part of the evil and darkness of this world. Instead, we are called to expose it, so that others do not fall prey to it.  How do I know what is light?  It produces only what is good and right and true.  If we are His disciples, then we are children who choose not follow in the pathway of darkness, but pursue the pathway of Light, and willingly choose to live a lifestyle that radiates the light of who He is and what He has done.

Heavenly Father…Help us in this hour to be a people who carefully determine what pleases you. Forgive us for living haphazard lives; forgive us when we try to keep one foot in the light while the other foot still treads in the darkness.  Thank you for the hope you have given unto us, the hope that darkness no longer is our master. Thank you for lighting the way before us and radiating your love, goodness and truth in our midst.  Thank you for enabling us as followers to follow you into this life of light.  Change our “want to”, so that we will be pursuers of the light.  In this hour, expose the darkness that is diluting our lives and bring a new clarity and focus as we yield our life to you, in Jesus’ Name