Sep 02 2010
Being the Light in the Darkness… It ain’t easy, but someone’s got to do it!
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend a it. – John 1:5
and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness – Romans 2:19
All through Scripture we see the struggle between good and evil represented as light and darkness. This is not a mere poetic analogy but a profound declaration as to the very nature of good and evil. Just as darkness has no substance, nor mass, nor force, evil is also nothing more than a void. Just as darkness is nothing more than an absence of light, so is evil nothing more than an absence of good. It is not the task of darknesses to become light, light must fill the darkness. If we meditate on this reality, we realize our responsibility is great, and our perception of our world is in need of changing.
Evil Has No Responsibility to Become Good, Good Must Fill Evil
Darkness cannot become light, light must be produced to fill the darkness. So many Christians, who have grown up with loving homes, tend to judge the poor and lost as deserving of their status due to bad behavior. We don’t stop to think what our own behavior might suffer for lack of love, education, and guidance. When a soul is born into the world, it is empty, needing to be filled. When a soul grows up, without love, it is a void and a parasite. An empty soul wanders to fill itself with whatever it can, not even aware of what it is missing.
Forgiveness and Mercy Are Unconditional for a Reason
The lost often act out according to their status. They rob, they lie, they abuse. When you have never known someone you can trust, moral priorities tend to change. This was just as much the case in Jesus’s time as our own. It’s not like the poor Jesus talked about were all well behaved and good mannered individuals, and only the poor today are so ill-mannered.
Jesus used such strong words regarding forgiveness and charity, not because people deserve it, but because they NEED it. The lost, the poor, the criminal will stay in the dark until those of us, with a little light to offer, take the first steps. Without this understanding, all religion breaks down into uselessness.
Becoming More Than a 5-Watt Bulb
None of us alive have received our full measure of love in this life, it is our human condition. We have all been scarred, hurt, let down, and left wanting. Even the most fortunate of us are still a little empty or “dark” inside. So were is the hope? If we are left unfilled, how can we fill others without an abundance? So I say, isn’t this the whole point of Christianity?
Jesus Christ gave us very little religion, but what He did provide was entirely based around providing us a source of independent nourishment. Grace, charity, love, prayer, faith is all about filling our own darkness with light directly from the source. At some point in our lives, someone becomes Christ to us, shows us the source, and then become filled from it directly. This is salvation, to be free from reliance on man for our light. Those of us who have been redeemed now are under obligation to show this light to others, not that we can completely fill their darkness, but that we can prove the light exists by our actions and behavior so that others may have hope.
