One of our Life Group members described an outing in which she took a tour of an underground cave. After the tour leaders described all the geological features, they told the group that they were going to turn out all the lights so they could experience the full darkness of the cave. She said when they turned out the lights, the utter darkness of the cave was overwhelming. This was a darkness like she had never experienced before. She was thankful when the lights came back on.

Christ is the “True Light” who came into the world. The result is that we who believe in Him became his children (John 1:12-13). Or as Jesus puts it later, “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light” (John 12:36). 

Becoming “sons of Light” is no small matter. We gain status as family members with all the rights and privileges of God as our Father. As John said, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). In Christ, we are given the right and privilege to become God’s child, and with it, all the benefits associated with “the name” of Jesus Christ.

With God as our Father through His Son, there are many, many privileges to this family status. Here are just a few.

Prayer.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7

Presence.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14: 16

Power.
“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth).” Ephesians 5:8-9

Protection.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?” Psalm 27:11 

Perspective.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105 

I like the way the apostle Paul puts it in Colossians 1:13-14, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Like that cave in utter darkness, we have been rescued from the deep, dark, cavernous void of darkness. The domain of darkness is the realm of evil itself. But we are not there. For us, the light has shone in our hearts and minds, and we now have new life and eyes to see clearly.

"For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light."

Psalm 36:9