The Light’s Stayin’ On!
I’m a night owl. If I don’t have to be up and about early, I tend to stay up late. Usually, I end up reading, but I started writing this at nearly one in the morning, the same time as I am now posting it. My mind seems to run better at night. That whole “men love darkness rather than the light” thing always seemed to suggest something bad about me.
Of course, it doesn’t really. That verse is refers to spiritual darkness, a place for people to try to hide their sin, and we are seeing entirely too much of it. A senator is in court for breaking the law. A congressman who replaced his disgraced predecessor is himself guilty of shameful behavior. A presidential candidate admires a rapper who writes lyrics filled with profanity. TV is filled with programs that glorify all manner of sinful behavior. Threats of violence from crime and terrorism make the world a frightening place. We live in a country and world where millions of unborn babies die for the convenience of their mothers. Furthermore, no time of the year seems to celebrate horror and darkness like October; no, I don’t mean the election but Halloween. Yet somehow purveyors of much of this spiritual darkness single out Christianity as bad for the country. Will the darkness overwhelm us?
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” In John 1:5, we read that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it.” Such is the nature of darkness that it takes only a little light to drive it back, but it doesn’t work in reverse. A little darkness has virtually no effect on light. Jesus isn’t a little light. The Son of God, the incarnate Word, Prince of Peace, Promised Messiah, the Savior of all who believe, and the King seated at the right hand of the Father is no flickering candle. He is a Supernova, a spotlight, and a beacon driving back the uncomprehending darkness, illuminating every dark corner, and revealing what the shadows try to conceal. No other would-be messiah can comes close to His brilliance, and we ought to be wary of pretenders. We’ve been warned that the darkness is clever at acting enlightened.
The good news is that we don’t have to fear the darkness, however penetrating and pervasive is seems to be. The Word contains His light, and we can use it to guide us through the dark, shine its light into the dark places, and brighten the gloom in the world around us. This isn’t just a metaphor. Truth is the answer to lies. Its light will expose deceivers. Revelation is more certain than speculation. Wisdom provides better direction than foolishness. Promises offer greater security than wishes and empty dreams. Righteousness leads to contentment while sin leads to guilty dissatisfaction.
Even better, “the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (I John 2:8). As we have all seen, the darkness seems worst just before the dawn. The desperation with which those in darkness seek to extinguish the light is clear, but they will never succeed. The theory of evolution is a good example. For a time, its seemed undeniable that creation was an antiquated myth, like believing in the tooth fairy, but today scientific advances in microbiology reveal a complexity within the very cells that no theory can attribute to accidents of chance. Even the most committed “believers” in evolution take a “leap of faith” to avoid the evidence of design. Could the recent rise in books attacking belief in God come from desperation in the darkness at the persistence of the light?
The good news is “out there,” unlike the dubious “truth” about alien life in an old TV show. The reality is that the light of life persists and cannot be extinguished or dimmed. However the next election turns out, the Light of Christ will not go out. Will darkness hover and howl like a wolf at the brick house of the wise pig? Perhaps it will, but we will be safe inside the truth that shines and, rather than diminishing, will shine brighter till it illuminates every shadowed corner and hidden niche. Nobody’s turning off this light; it’s on for good!