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Darkness and Light

The bible says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. It can be useful to consider what light is. Light radiates outward from a source. It brings warmth and illuminates what is around us. In a way it vitalizes and exposes truth and reality. We might consider “darkness” as represented by Satan in Isaiah 14 where his ambitions, lusts, and consumptive desires are listed. This gives us a picture of selfishness (darkness) contrasted with selflessness (light).

As infants we learn to cry to get food or to express discomfort. As we grow we can learn more subtle techniques to get what we want. Those who do not learn to use stealth, deception, and guile often end up being taken advantage of by others or in prison as the result of a poorly executed attempt to satisfy one’s desires. The nation of Israel was given laws to help them learn to limit the destructiveness of their own desires. Paul wrote the Romans about the difficulty he had in trying to keep the law, Man in his natural state has little to resist the power of what the bible calls the “flesh” (our inclination towards selfishness that is the result of our fallen state).

What changed almost 2,000 years ago was the offer of grace to those who trusted in the gospel of Jesus of his death, burial, and resurrection to pay for our sins. In addition to eternal life, those who have faith are given the Holy Spirit by whose power we have the option to turn from darkness to light, This seems foolish to those who see greater comfort, pleasure, and advantage in self-seeking. The self-seeking of the flesh brings us into contention with others (1 Cor 3:1-3). Being able to transcend our baser nature is the dream of Buddhists and the Enlightenment tradition of secular liberals but is only actually achievable through the power of the Holy Spirit to those who are in the body of Christ.

Sadly few Christians show this transcendence in their lives. This is because many mistakenly claim to be Christian but have only accepted a “Christian" tradition, a belief (acknowledgment) instead of faith (trust) in the gospel, or have remained immature in their faith like the Corinthians. Compounding this is that few understand how isolated and ignorant we are of others in today’s society such that we seldom know others well enough to observe what a real and mature Christian life can look like. In a world of growing darkness individual light is seldom not noticed much less its source.

False selflessness comes in many forms such as phony charities, the self-righteous and bullying indignation of the social activist, and even poorly thought out attempts of actual charity such as governmental welfare programs that result in ingratitude, hostility, and dependence. While the light of God can shine through faithful individuals, collectives seem only suited to serve darkness. Another distinctive between light and dark is that of the difference between the transient and the eternal. Sensations are often called transient ( 2Cor 4:17, Heb 11:25, 1 John 2:17).

Luke contrasts the “children” of the world with the “children” of light (Luke 16:8). The word used for “children” is uihos in Greek and is used to denote kinship of varying degrees. For those in Christ, we should seek to draw closer to the light of our Savior and walk less after the darkness of our flesh and the world.

Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

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