Jesus is the Light of the World

In church over the last few months we have been hearing about Jesus' "I am", which in the Greek is

(ego eimi; pronounced ee-go a-mee (where "a" is like in "hay")) statements. We focused on the seven absolute "I am's" from the gospel of John which are:
- "I am the bread of life" John 6:35
- "I am the Light of the world" John 8:12
- "I am the door of the sheep" John 10:7
- "I am the good shepherd" John 10:14
- "I am the resurrection and the life" John 11:25
- "I am the way" John 14:6
- "I am the true vine" John 15:1

After having a look at what the challenge is this week at Our Daily Bread Designs (more on that in a minute) I then went and looked through my stamps to see which one I could colour for this challenge and came across their "The Light of Life" stamp. I immediately thought back to the sermon that we had on "I am the Light of the world".

The whole verse is "Then Jesus spoke again 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. And again in John 9:5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world".
Throughout John's gospel John likes to use the word light. John 1:4-5 says "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." Jesus is the creator of everything. John is using light to point out the divinity of Jesus. As creator, Jesus is not dependent upon anything. Life is in Him as He is the author of life. Without Him we are left with darkness.
At the end of John's gospel we have resurrection morning. The women go to Jesus' tomb while it was still dark. But the darkness gives way to the light. John uses this contrast between light and dark, life and death, throughout his gospel.
Jesus makes it clear that He is the Light of the world. But what does He mean by light? Jesus wasn't a walking lightbulb (although he did shine at the transfiguration), but for most of His ministry He didn't walk around glowing. Jesus uses the word 'light' symbolically. Light is used in connection with life. Light also carries with it an ethical and moral dimension, just like darkness does for sin. To be in the light is to be in fellowship with God. The light exposes our sin, it reveals what we are truly like. That's why so many hide from the light because they don't want to be exposed. Jesus has come into our world as the light that we need. 
It is common to hear today that the 'answer lies within'. But it doesn't, in fact that is where the problem is - the problem of our heart. Our hearts are dark with sin and we need the light to shine, to clean out the darkness.The answer is outside of us. The answer is Christ.
But to believe that Jesus is the light also requires a response from us. Read John 8:12 again "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life". Our response should be one of following. We are to follow the Lord Jesus. What does it mean to follow Him? To see life through His light. See life the way He sees it. We have new eyes.
In His Light, darkness is overcome. The light of truth overcomes the darkness of lies. The light of integrity overcomes the darkness of deception. The light of hope overcomes the darkness of despair.
What light are you walking by? The world is full of different lights... but there is only one true light, the Light of the world, Jesus.
(Above is a summary of the sermon "I AM the Light" by Jamie Houghton spoken at Bunbury Baptist on 27 October 2013.)

And this brings us to Christmas and what we celebrate at this time of year - we remember that Jesus did come to earth to be our Saviour, to be an example to us of how to live and to die on the cross for our sins. I am so thankful to Him and for what He has done.

This is my card that I made using the ODBD stamp set I mentioned at the top of my post.

This is my first nighttime scene that I've coloured with my Copic markers. I wanted to make my lantern "shine" with light and make that light reflect off its surroundings. Just like Jesus is our Light and our life should reflect Him.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
1. Our Daily Bread Designs ODBDSLC184 N-O-E-L word play --  the idea is to create a card or project using items beginning with each letter in the word NOEL. My choices were N-navy blue (reflected in the base card, and sky of the picture), O - I used the shape and chose a circle shape, E - embossing (bible verse and wood background are both embossed with clear embossing powder) and L - layers (of card).
2. Word Art Wednesday - Challenge #111 Anything Goes

Some more pictures of my card:

ODBD "Wood Background" stamped on the purple cardstock then embossed with clear embossing powder

To make the stamp fit my circle I extended the wood and wire with my Copic black 0.3 and 0.1 mm multiliners

Copics: Lantern and wire - Y11, Y17, Y38, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, Y04; Foliage - Y11, YG93, YG97, W1, W3, W5, YR31, E55, E57, Y04; Wood - E21, E23, E29, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9, Y11, Y04; Sky - BV25.
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs "The Light of Life" and "Wood Background"
Ink: Memento "Tuxedo Black", Distress Ink "Black Soot", "Dusty Concord", "Bundled Sage", "Pumice Stone", "Chipped Sapphire" and "Embossing Ink"
Cardstock: Creativ Plain, DCWV Textured Neutrals and X-Press It blending card
Dies: None
Other: Beutron craft button, Sew Easy pinecone floss, Zing! clear embossing powder, X-Press It clear gel glue, Inkssentials glossy accents, X-Press It double sided tape and X-Press It high tack foam mounting tape.

Updated Wednesday, 25 December 2013!
Happy Christmas everyone!
So excited once again to be chosen as a winner of the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge N-O-E-L word play. See the other winners here.