If I did a survey and asked how many of you have ever entered a dark room and in the process of making your way across that room, you stubbed your toe. Or maybe you hit your knee, or tripped on items laying on the floor, or maybe you ran directly into a wall or object. I venture to say that every single one of us have had an experience similar to what I just described. In today’s Sunday Spice we are going to evaluate the kind of life that such darkness creates and the resolve we all need by submitting to one vital thing. What is that one vital thing? Simply this: seek to turn on the light.
There is nothing more clearly defined as the difference between light and darkness. They cannot co-exist. If you enter a dark room, at the very least you are unsure of how safe you are as you attempt to cross that room and a certain angst will grip you as a result. As long as it is dark, anxiety is your experience. If you do indeed hurt yourself, stumble, or find yourself groping during those very tense moments the one thing that goes through your mind is, “I wish somebody would turn on the light!”
We all understand this. The presence of light does not rearrange the furniture in the room, or suddenly gather up the debris so you can navigate the room successfully. You may still need to step over toys or popcorn bowls left out from the kids watching a TV show a few hours earlier. Honestly, the room may be a total mess, furniture may have been rearranged of which you were not informed or aware. But despite these obstacles, you easily traverse the room. How? Why? Because the lights have been turned on. The light makes all the difference.
We walk in a dark world where the landscape is littered by lies and manipulations. Mysteries and deeds done in secret are becoming more and more a part of the world, evidenced in news reports and criminal activity, perpetuated even by people we thought were upstanding. Revelations of such activity expose what we call the “dark” side of people. But if it’s not something that turns out to be criminal, it can instead be things classified as dishonest and immoral. Sometimes it leads to addictive behavior or to secret questionable activity. And then there are the common everyday “little” sins and compromises that we don’t think much about. Think about it. It doesn’t take much to use language of which a holy God would not approve or give place to thought patterns and philosophies that we refuse to test against the Biblical backdrop of God’s integrity and expectations.
The obvious is that we are not perfect. But the good news of the gospel makes the most sense when we are first honest with the bad news, that we are indeed so incredibly imperfect (even on our very best days) that it is impossible that we would dare believe that such imperfection even has a place in heaven with the perfect God. This is the starting point; to first get honest with the darkness.
In reality, we all start in darkness. Ephesians 3 says, “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” Colossians expands, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
Outside of Christ Jesus, we were not just in darkness, we were darkness, we were under its domain and infiltrated with its power. Our walk, our behavior, was characterized by the angst, the stumbling, the struggles of negotiating the darkness. And in many cases with the false-confidence that we could negotiate the darkness successfully even in the absence of light. Or even more arrogant yet is assuming that we contain enough light of our own to deal with the darkness.
We have thought things like, “My life is okay; I’ll be fine.” “I’ll make it.” “I’m a good person.” Such an attitude perhaps reveals a shift to a non-Biblical theology that rejects the standards of a total trust in God and the work of Jesus at the cross on our behalf to one of moralism; a trust in my own goodness, after all I am good citizen, a good employee, a good spouse, a good parent, a good church member. But is such moralism worthy of such trustworthiness concerning our eternal destination, especially when the Bible proclaims that no one is good, no, not one? Don’t misunderstand. I am for goodness in all its forms and expressions. But when compared to holy God the best we can come up with falls drastically, and embarrassingly, and dangerously short.
Have we concluded that we would make it successfully across the dark room by the light of our own goodness? Or was there a day when we finally came to the realization that the light has not yet been turned on?
Oh, yeah. We had a measure of light that graciously provided us with practical wisdom for daily living, good citizenship practices, enough integrity to hold down a job and contribute to society, a commitment to morality that kept us out of jail. But don’t let this kind of light fool you into thinking everything is okay between you and your Creator. Jesus gave a poignant warning: “Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness.” Luke 11:35.
The Bible asks you to assure yourself that the eternal light of Jesus has been turned on in your human spirit so that you can become fully alive. This includes the honest conclusion that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that sin is the cause of all darkness. And then to also conclude that nothing short of God’s direct and personal intervention is our only hope.
That intervention is not our attempt at turning on the light. Instead, the Holy Spirit reaches to turn on the light on our behalf by drawing us to Himself.
When turning on the light is left to us, especially if we have not consulted the Bible, we are inclined to make something up that sounds reasonable but not grounded in Biblical principle. This is why the Bible must be part of the process. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119
The Bible and the Lord Jesus have clearly pointed out that He is the light of the world. And He is the light to which I point in this Sunday Spice. So that it might be said of us that “now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” And that we are no longer “of the night or of the darkness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:5
I say again that you and I should assure ourselves that the light that is in us is indeed the light of eternal life in Christ Jesus without the compromises of non-Biblical thinking. If you’re not sure I suggest you seek the source of light. Start with a wholehearted seeking of the Lord Himself. Then use the light of His word to help illuminate your thinking: your path. You may have challenges but as you expose yourself to the light you can begin to see where you’re going.
I’m Tammy Reneé, and this is Sunday Spice. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed are the people who take refuge in Him!
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