Who Do You Trust? Jesus is the Light in the Darkness.

The world feels unstable. In Albania, leaders decided they couldn’t trust a human being to make financial decisions, so they appointed an AI bot as a government minister. In Nepal, after political turmoil, a new government was voted in through the gaming platform Discord — the same one many of us use to chat. In America, someone many considered a defender of Christian values was shot and killed. And here in Australia, protests and counter-protests keep spilling into our streets.

A friend emailed me and asked, “Are we sitting on the powder keg of society about to implode?” He named the fault lines: far right, far left, Indigenous voices, and the wide middle wondering what on earth is going on. He said, “In my own life I can feel the rise of, ‘Who do I trust? What do they think?’ Social media has made us stop talking face to face while we read thousands of opinions pushed by algorithms… I dislike the word moderate Christians, but I don’t want to stand with either extreme. What is Christ asking me to do? I fear we will be too slow, too late.”

I feel that too. I dislike the label “moderate Christian,” but I don’t fit the extremes either. And the fear — too slow, too late — sits with me. So here is the question beneath all our news feeds: Who do you trust, and what does it mean to follow Jesus now?

Who do you Trust? Jesus and the Frameworks of Reality

The Bible gives us deep truths — frameworks — that help us make sense of life. First, we don’t see the world as it really is; we see it as we are. If our problem is blurred vision, what we most need is light. Second, we are both beautiful and broken. God’s image is in us, but so is selfishness. And third, God Himself is both justice and grace.

That third framework is revealed in Exodus. Moses, fearful about leading Israel, begged God for reassurance: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). God answered by showing Himself as the one who is both just and merciful, both grace and truth.

The trouble is, we often prefer Him to be one or the other. Sometimes we want a gentle Jesus who never challenges us. Other times we want a tough Jesus who crushes our enemies. But God is not a projection of our mood. He is justice andgrace. And when we ignore His boundaries, it isn’t the boundary that breaks — it’s us. As Cecil B. DeMille said, “You cannot break God’s laws; you can only break yourself against them.” We all carry scars from those moments.

If we can’t see clearly, and if we are both beautiful and broken, then we need a God who is both justice and grace. And the claim of Christianity is that all of God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus.

Who Do You Trust? Jesus in History

The prophets saw Him coming. Jeremiah promised a descendant of David who would also be called Yahweh Himself. Zechariah spoke of sin being removed in a single day and peace restored between neighbours. Somehow, everything God promised would come together in one person.

And Christianity is not just ideas. It is history. Paul, quoting one of the earliest Christian creeds, wrote:

“Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive… Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all… I also saw him.” (1 Corinthians 15:3–8)

Four simple claims: Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ was raised. Christ appeared. Paul even invites fact-checking: many witnesses were still alive.

Historians who are not Christians agree on the basics: Jesus lived in first-century Palestine, claimed divine authority, was crucified under Pilate, and His followers truly believed they saw Him alive again.

The gospel writers then help us grasp the meaning of these events. Matthew calls Him Jesus — “God saves” — and Immanuel, “God with us.” Mark shows Him saying His purpose was twofold: to serve and to give His life as a ransom. Luke records Him reading Isaiah’s prophecy and saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

And then John, the last Gospel, takes us deeper: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word gave life to everything… The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:1–5).

John calls Him the Logos — God’s own self-expression. You won’t understand Jesus until you see Him as God showing who He is. John says the true light came for everyone, yet many rejected Him. But those who received Him were given the right to become children of God.

And then the climax: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory… full of grace and truth… Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:14–16). Jesus is the embodiment of God’s glory. Grace and truth are not ideas on a page; they are a person. From Him comes grace upon grace — grace layered on grace.

Who Do You Trust? Jesus the Shepherd

So where do you find life? Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). He warned that building on feelings is like building on sand, but building on His words is like building on rock. Paul urged believers to let their roots grow deep into Christ so their lives could be built on Him.

To follow Jesus is to admit your view of reality is limited. It is to face both your beauty and your brokenness. It is to trust the God who is justice and grace, and to remember that the God of the universe showed up in history as a Jewish carpenter. It is to find a pattern for life in His words and actions. And above all, it is to live in relationship with the Shepherd who still speaks: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

So pause. Slow down. Be still. Picture yourself with Jesus. Ask Him, “Is there anything you want to say to me?” Let the silence stretch. Other voices will crowd in — your fears, your history, your inner critic. Notice them, but don’t let them drown Him out. The Shepherd still speaks.

And don’t keep it to yourself. Share what you sense with someone else. Because this is not just the most important question you can ask — it is the most important question we can ask together: What is Jesus saying?

And let me be clear: I’m not Jesus. He may want to say something to you that has nothing to do with these words. That’s fine. The point is not to hear from me, but from Him. The only question left is whether you’re ready to say “yes.”