CHILDREN'S COLUMN

By Mrs. Charles Wages

Scripture Reading: John 9

"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)

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:5)

Boys and girls, I am sure that each of you have experienced coming into a dark room, and turning on the light. The darkness left quickly, and you could see everything in the room. Perhaps, too, you have known times when the electricity went off, and your parents had to light some candles, or a lantern, or get a flashlight. It is good to have light.

In the Scripture reading, John chapter 9, you will read about a man who was blind. He was born blind and had lived to be grown without seeing anything or anyone with his eyes. This is sad, but it is wonderful to read on and see how Jesus healed the man's eyes and he could see! Jesus loved people and wanted to help them, however, He also wanted to teach a lesson here.

You see, without Christ as our Saviour, we are all blind spiritually. Because of sin in the human race, we all are in the darkness of sin spiritually, even though we may have good eyes to see everything around us. In John, chapter 1 and verses 4 and 5, we read,

"In him (Jesus) was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

In this same chapter we are told about a man named John, who was sent to bear witness of the coming of Jesus. In verses 7-9, Jesus is called the Light. This was a name given to Jesus. In these verses it is clear that John was not that Light, but he only came to bear witness of that Light. Verse 9 says,

"That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

We are living in a world dark with sin. Jesus is our Light to help us to see where we are going. If we know the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, then we have Him as our Light in the world, and we can say with the Psalmist in Psalm 27:1,

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Another wonderful thing is that the Lord has given us His Word to be a light for us here. It can show us how to walk and how to live for Him, and how to avoid things that would make us stumble and fall. There is a verse in Psalm 119:105, which I hope each of you will memorize if you don't already know it. It will be a blessing to you.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

It is wonderful to know that our Lord and His Word will be a light to our feet, showing us where to go and how to walk, and a lamp unto our pathway. The reason so many of us don't see this light is because we don't study His Word. There is no way that we can know how to live for the Lord without studying His Word.

Boys and girls, I pray that first of all you will accept Christ as your Saviour. Realize that you (and all of us) are sinners and need a Saviour. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for us. We just need to accept what He did for us. Then, after we are saved, we need to study the Word daily to know how to live for Him. I pray you will let Him and His Word be a light for you as you go through this life.