2. Existence requires connection to the source of life.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. {John 1:3-4}
The living room in our house is dingy. Thanks to the rich, dark wood, the placement of the windows, and the paint color of the one painted wall, even when the sun is shining its brightest outside, it’s pretty dark in my living room.
So I have a big floor lamp in the corner behind the sofa, with a big light bulb and an open, glass shade. When I turn it on, it lights up the whole room and then some. I love that lamp! But if it wasn’t plugged into the electrical outlet, it would be useless. If my lamp wasn’t connected to the source of power, it wouldn’t matter how badly it wanted to shine, my living room would be dark.
We are like the lamp, and God is like the electrical outlet. Since He is the only Source of Life to be found in the universe, anything else that is alive must be connected to Him. Since life is in Him, then there is no way that anything can live apart from Him. To be cut off, or unplugged, from Him is to be cut off from existence.
That’s how John opens his gospel: In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. We are dependent upon the Source of Life just as surely as a lamp is dependent on a power source. If we are connected to that life, then we are also alive. If we’re not connected to that life, then we cannot exist.
If you want to dig deeper—
Job 12:7-10
Job 33:4
Psalm 104:24-30
Psalm 145:15
Proverbs 12:28
Matthew 10:28
Matthew 16:26
John 1:3-4
John 10:10
Acts 17:24-29
1 Corinthians 8:6
Colossians 1:15-17
Hebrews 1:3
1 John 5:12