When Life Appeared

So glad you could be here for today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Tim Gustafson wrote today's reading, and he titled it When Life Appeared. In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine dominated the world's attention. As the magnitude of the catastrophe became apparent, officials scrambled to the critically essential task of containing the radiation. Lethal gamma rays from highly radioactive debris kept destroying the robots deployed to clean up the mess. So they had to use bio-robots.

Human beings, thousands of heroic individuals became Chernobyl liquidators, disposing of the hazardous material in shifts of 90 seconds or less. People did what technology could not, at great personal risk. Long ago, our rebellion against God introduced a catastrophe that led to all other catastrophes. Through Adam and Eve, we chose to part ways with our Creator, and we made our world a toxic mess in the process.

We could never clean it up ourselves. That's the whole point of Christmas. The Apostle John wrote of Jesus in 1 John chapter 2, The life appeared, we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. Then John declared, The blood of Jesus, God's Son, purifies us from all sin. Jesus has provided what His creatures could not. As we believe in Him, He restores us to a right relationship with His Father.

He's liquidated death itself. The life has appeared. The scripture reading for today's devotional is from 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 through 10. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the word of life. The life appeared, we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you. God is light. In Him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us. Would you spend some time in prayer with me? Dear Heavenly Father, we acknowledge our rebellion and the brokenness it has brought to your creation. We thank you for sending Jesus as the solution to our sin. We praise you for the gift of eternal life in Christ and for restoring our relationship with you. Help us to live in a way that others see you in us and are drawn to you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks so much for listening today. I'm Stephen Taver, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.