"I am the light of the world. He (or she) who follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but have the light of life." John 8:12
I believe in an afterlife, I believe in a heaven. But if there is no heaven I still believe that it would be worthwhile to follow Jesus's teachings and example. I say this because Jesus, while mentioning heaven was mainly concerned with how we live our lives in this place and time. He was concerned about who we loved and how we loved them. He was concerned about the need for compassion and apathy. He was concerned about peace, both internally and externally, and justice. He was concerned with people understanding that they didn't have to carry their burdens. He was concerned with people understanding that they were never alone, no matter what they were going through. He was concerned about every single person to ever walk the face of the Earth.
In this particular verse Jesus says that whoever follows him would not walk in darkness but would have the light of life. I believe that above all other things, what Jesus mainly means in this statement is that we do not have to let the happenings of our lives define our lives. We don't have to be the divorcee. We don't have to be the addict. We don't have to be the dropout. We don't have to be the shunned. We don't have to be _________ (fill in the blank). This is not to say that the things we go through don't happen, or don't matter, because they have and they do, but it is the freedom to understand that the darkness of our lives does not have to define our lives. You have been damaged, but that doesn't mean you are damaged and you will always be damaged.
We don't have to walk in the darkness, even if we are surrounded by it. We can have hope for a brighter tomorrow. We can have peace on the journey. And most of all we can have the knowledge that no one moment, good or bad, heavenly or hellish, defines who we are, unless we let it.
+ Why do you believe in Jesus?
+ If there was no heaven, no afterlife, would you still believe?
+ Why do you believe in Jesus?
+ If there was no heaven, no afterlife, would you still believe?
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