Feb 9 devotion

The NT reading for today in the Treasury of Daily Prayer was John 3.1-21. The last section (vs. 16-21) talks about the light and darkness.

16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
Last night I was abruptly awakened by a cat knocking over a tray table with a half-full mug of hot chocolate on it! As I was cleaning up the mess and kicking the cat back down to the basement, I stopped to look outside. I love the brightness of a fresh fallen snow. I actually walked to the front door because I thought someone had left the porch light on. It was actually just the brightness of the snow. It was really beautiful. But I also thought about how hard it is to hide with fresh snow! I could clearly see in the brightness that nothing had disturbed the snow yet—there were no footprints, no paw prints, no tire tracks. (A few hours later that was not the case. I could see my husband’s footprints from shoveling the walk. I could see my son’s tire tracks as he left for work.) Like these verses say, the light exposes our works. Many nights you do not see when a neighborhood dog walks through your yard or a neighbor gets home really late or maybe leaves for work before daybreak. But in the brightness those things become evident. But all our deeds done in the darkness of sin are seen in the light of Jesus. His Word exposes our sins and drops of to our knees in repentance. But the other thought I had as I looked at the snow was from Psalm 51 verse 7.
7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
I have been humming that song in my head all morning—especially as I opened the drapes several hours later and the sunlight on the snow was almost blinding!

Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the light which has come into the world—the light of your Son, Jesus Christ. And thank you for His death on the cross which allows us to washed “whiter than snow!” Help us by the Holy Spirit to continually walk in the light. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.