Light Versus Darkness

Some fairly strong thunderstorms have passed through our area in the last couple of days. The winds and rain have downed trees and broken off tree limbs, along with causing flooding in some places. Subsequently, power outages have occurred from time to time. So we have walked gingerly around our condo at times. It is a mildly uncomfortable feeling.

When we lived in Nepal, we experienced what they called “rolling blackouts”. The city did not have sufficient power to deliver around the clock, so each part of city was assigned times to receive power and times when power was not available. So we had blackouts for eight to eleven hours per day. When our scheduled blackout was during the night, it was not much of a problem, as we slept through it. If it was during the evening, it was a huge problem as we couldn’t see or do anything.

People walk through life not realizing that they are in darkness. They have adjusted their lives to behave as if nothing is wrong. It is like their eyes have adjusted to the lack of light, like nocturnal animals. The darkness controls what they can and cannot do, but they are unaware of the darkness at all. Actually, this description fits all of us. We walk in sin’s darkness and don’t realize how tight of a grip that sin has upon us.

I John 1:5-9 gives us hope when it says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We can either hold onto our sins and remain in darkness or we can confess our sins and have fellowship with God, who is light and life. In the darkness we will find hurts and troubles. In God’s light we receive forgiveness and salvation through His love and grace.