Sin’s darkness retreats when Christ’s light is revealed.

基督的光除去罪的黑暗。

Everyone who does evil hates the light. John 3:20

凡作恶的便恨光。-约翰福音3章20节

The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 427–c. 348 ) found an imaginative way of shining light on the dark side of the human heart. He told the story of a shepherd who innocently discovered a golden ring that had been hidden deep in the earth. One day a great earthquake opened up an ancient mountainside tomb and revealed the ring to the shepherd. By accident he also discovered that the ring had the magical ability to enable the wearer to become invisible at will. Thinking about invisibility, Plato raised this question: If people didn’t have to worry about being caught and punished, would they resist doing wrong?

希腊哲学家柏拉图（公元前427-348年）曾说了一个故事来揭示人心的黑暗，故事说到一位牧羊人在无意间寻获地底深处的一枚金戒指。那一天，发生了强烈的地震，天摇地动之后地壳裂开，牧羊人在一个古墓的裂缝中捡拾到一枚戒指，还意外地发现到这枚戒指具有神奇魔力，只要戴上它就能让人隐匿行踪。柏拉图问道，假设人们具有隐形的能力，可以随心所欲，不会受到法律制裁，那么人们会约束自己不犯罪吗？

In John’s gospel we find Jesus taking this idea in a different direction. There, Jesus, known as the Good Shepherd, speaks of hearts that stay in the cover of darkness to hide what they are doing (John 3:19–20). He isn’t calling attention to our desire for cover-up to condemn us, but to offer us salvation through Him (v. 17). As the Shepherd of our hearts, He brings the worst of our human nature to light to show us how much God loves us (v. 16).

人性的确有黑暗的一面，但对于这一点，耶稣在约翰福音中给了我们一条出路。耶稣是好牧人，祂知道人们宁可选择行在黑暗中，因为如此可以掩饰自己的恶行，免受惩罚（约翰福音3章19-20节）。然而，耶稣揭露我们掩饰恶行的黑暗面，并非要定我们的罪，而是要我们藉着祂得到救恩（17节）。耶稣是我们心灵的牧者，祂揭露人性最黑暗之处，为要显明上帝是何等地爱我们（16节）。

God in His mercy calls us out of our darkness and invites us to follow Him in the light.

上帝以祂的慈悲怜悯，呼召我们脱离黑暗与罪恶，并邀请我们跟随祂行在光中。

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for the

 light of Your presence in my life. 

May I walk obediently in the light 

of Your truth in all that I do this day.

亲爱的天父，

谢谢祢让我的生命中有祢同在的亮光。

 愿我一生行事为人，

能顺服地行在祢真理的光中。

John 3:16-21 New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

约翰福音 3:16-21Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified) (CUVMPS)

神爱世人

16 “神爱世人，甚至将他的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信他的不致灭亡，反得永生。17 因为神差他的儿子降世，不是要定世人的罪[a]，乃是要叫世人因他得救。 18 信他的人不被定罪，不信的人罪已经定了，因为他不信神独生子的名。

作恶的恨光

19 “光来到世间，世人因自己的行为是恶的，不爱光倒爱黑暗，定他们的罪就是在此。 20 凡作恶的便恨光，并不来就光，恐怕他的行为受责备； 21 但行真理的必来就光，要显明他所行的是靠神而行。”

整理：于姊妹