LIGHT TRIUMPS OVER DARKNESS!

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men
loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
(John 3:19)

MEDITATION:
There are many opposing extremes in the world, aren’t there?
There’s hot and cold, sweet and sour, nice and mean, caring
and cruel, good and bad, etc. Let’s take a closer look at a couple
of them and see the effect they can have when compared to their
polar opposites.

For instance, if we consider good and bad, bad usually wins out, right?
When a bad (rotten) apple is added to a basket with good apples, what
happens? The good apples start turning bad, right? However, when a
good apple is added to a basket with bad (rotten) apples, the bad apples
don’t start turning good, do they? The good apple becomes bad (rotten).

This is an excellent illustration of why we need to be careful about the
company we keep. If we are considered good and develop friendships
with others who are not, then we are more likely to become bad, than
they are in becoming good.

It doesn’t mean we disassociate ourselves from them, it just means
we should not spend enough time with them for us to pick up their
thoughts, words, actions and habits.

What about darkness and light? If we introduce light into a dark room,
it pierces the darkness, doesn’t it? However, we can introduce as much
darkness as we want, but the darkness can never overtake or cover the
light.

So how does this relate to God’s Word? The scriptures are clear – man
loves the darkness because people enjoy doing things that are evil and
are opposed to the goodness of the light. This reveals to us that man
has a natural desire to sin, and apparently it is easier to resist doing
good, than it is to resist temptations to sin.

God knew that mankind would have a desire for the darkness of sin,
so He created a plan (from the beginning of time) to introduce the
‘light of Jesus’ into the world. Not everyone will come out of the
darkness to enjoy and bask in the light of the Lord, but some will.

When we use a flashlight in the woods at night, it will cast a light
in some areas, but there will still be dark shadows where the light
has not reached. The difference between a flashlight and the light
of the world is, Jesus reaches all the darkness of man; there are no
areas hidden from His sight.

When God’s light shines, the sinful man is exposed and must make
a choice: accept the light and remain in it or run from the light and
return to the darkness. We can see why the scriptures tell us that
‘men loved the darkness’. It is a place where he feels he can hide
from the light of God.

When does a criminal prefer to commit his crimes? Even though
there are many more crimes in broad daylight these days, most
criminals feel that when their evil deeds are committed at night,
they are less likely to get caught.

There is a correlation here to sinful man. Man seems to think that
if he can sin without being exposed by the ‘light of the world’ (Jesus),
then they will not get caught in their acts of sin. Sounds ludicrous
doesn’t it? And it is! In all of his cleverness, mankind cannot hide
their sins from the Lord.

Christ is being rejected by an overwhelming majority of humanity
today. And, as a result, the folks in spiritual darkness continue to
stumble blindly toward destruction, judgment, and hell. Living in
spiritual darkness creates a life of confusion, disappointment, worry,
frustration, and fearfulness.

Conversely, living in the ‘spiritual light’ gives us a new life of order,
peace, joy, and a purpose for living, rather than just existing. When
we live in the ‘light of the Lord’, we will have a new focus, and we will
discover new opportunities that are much more rewarding to us than
what the world has to offer.

All the darkness that man has created in his mind was completely
exposed when God introduced His Light (Jesus) into the world. It
should not surprise us that the ‘verdict’ mentioned in John 3:19
immediately follows the verses which explain the reason why God’s
light was introduced to the world.
    For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
    that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
    life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
    the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes
    in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
    condemned already because they have not believed in the name
    of God’s one and only Son.
    (John 3:16-18)

The light was God’s gift to the world to emphasize His love for every
person. He didn’t introduce light to punish us and make our lives
miserable. His purpose was to offer us the opportunity to experience
a more fulfilling life and to provide us with confidence that we will
spend an eternity in heaven.

ACTION:
Which appeals to you the most – the darkness or the light?
If it is the darkness, then how is it working out for you?
Wouldn’t you prefer to live a life in the light of Jesus, or
does Satan have such a tight grip on your life that you fail
to notice the light? Do you still have areas of darkness in
your life that need light?

Satan has a ‘basket’ full of bad choices designed to make us
bad. But God has a ‘basket’ full of goodness ready to make us
good. Which choice should we make? Do we embrace the light,
or run from it to the darkness where we will continue in sin?

Are there any areas in your life that you have compromised? In
other words, you know you are doing something unrighteous which
displeases God, but you have rationalized to yourself it’s okay, so you
choose to do it anyway.

One of the ways Satan can cause us to ignore God’s guidelines is to
convince us that since we couldn’t find anything in the bible that says
we shouldn’t do something, then it must be okay. The truth is, God
doesn’t list every single item; He is teaching us how to have a righteous
attitude so we will know what is right and wrong in His eyes.

Instead of allowing Satan to manipulate our thoughts through
unrighteous logic, we should ask ourselves,
    “Would I do this if God was sitting in the room with me?”
If we can convince ourselves that something unrighteous is okay,
we could be in a very dark place.

As an example, have you ever heard someone say,
    “Yeah, I would drink a beer with Jesus in the room”
How can drinking a mind-altering alcoholic beverage be considered
righteous in God’s eyes. We might not find, “Thou shalt not drink a
beer” in scripture, but we do find this verse,
    Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,
    whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
    is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable;
    if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about
    such things.
    (Philippians 4:8)

Included in this verse is, “whatever is pure”. Anything that alters
the mind that God has created in us, is impure. Why? Because it
damages our brain. Look at the rest of the scripture and we can
see the attitude God wants us to have so we can accurately assess
what is right and wrong in His eyes.

Here is a scripture that tells us about the mind-damaging effects
of consuming impure beverages:
    Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife?
    Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises?
    Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over
    wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do
    not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles
    in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end
    it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your
    eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will
    imagine confusing things. You will be like one
    sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.
    “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They
       beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I
       can find another drink?”
    (Proverbs 23:29-35)

It’s not a matter of how much we consume, it’s about drinking
anything impure. We can say to ourselves that we are ‘only’
displeasing God a little, but everything is black or white for
God. In addition, unrighteous acts at any level put us on a
slippery slope toward displeasing God at a greater level.

There have been many real-life testimonies of how ‘sampling’
an impure substance created an addiction for someone. When
we justify unrighteous acts in our own mind, we open the door
for Satan to get a foothold on our life, and it won’t be long until
he ‘owns’ us.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for providing the light of the
world to give me hope of a new and fulfilling life. Forgive me
for allowing a love for the darkness to cause me to make bad
decisions. Show me how much I have to gain by living in Your
light of the world. Teach me to live a life that will not make me
feel ashamed when I am exposed to Your Light. I need Your
strength and the aid of the Holy Spirit to help me leave the
darkness of sin and start walking in the light of Your goodness.
Thank You for loving me enough to make Your light available
to me regardless of my love for the darkness. You are my God
and the One I praise and worship! You are the One I want to
please. Thank You for everything that’s good in my life!”

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