Hi, and thanks for joining us for this encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Darkness and Light was written by Alison Keita.

As I sat in the courtroom, I witnessed several examples of the brokenness of our world.

A daughter estranged from her mother.

A husband and wife who'd lost the love they once had and now shared only bitterness.

A husband who yearned to be reconciled with his wife and to be reunited with his children.

They desperately needed changed hearts, healed wounds, and for God's love to prevail.

Sometimes when the world around us seems to hold only darkness and despair,

it's easy to give in to despair.

But then the spirit, who lives inside believers in Christ, reminds us that Jesus died for that

brokenness and pain. When he came into the world as a human, he brought light into the darkness.

We see this in his conversation with Nicodemus, who furtively came to Jesus in the cover of darkness,

but left impacted by the light.

Jesus taught Nicodemus that God's soul of the world that he gave his one and only son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Yet even though Jesus brought light and love into the world, many remain lost in the

darkness of their sin. If we are His followers, we have the light that dispels darkness. In gratitude,

let's pray that God will make us beacons of his love.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from John chapter 3,

verses 1 and 2, and 16 through 20.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

He came to Jesus at night and said,

...