Thought of the Day 01/29/08

The Death of Darkness
A life without light
John 3:19 -21

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I love messing with plants. I told some people one time that the reason I like messing with flowers and plants are two fold. First they are pretty when they are healthy and secondly they don’t talk back. Yeah, that is kind of funny to me. Every year, for the past 4 years, I have cherished some of the plants. I had hibiscus shrubs, in pots that were 8 foot tall. They were actually outgrowing their pots and I was going to plant them this spring. I also had several different types of hanging baskets, roses, etc. You get the point, I’m sure. I always stuck them in a shed that had windows which allowed light inside and a shop light for night. When it was too cold for them I turned a heater on and even though they would loose leaves and make a mess, they always came back in the spring. They were an enjoyment to me.
My shed is full of pots and plants. Yesterday, I went in to water them and found that the cheap shop light quit on me. It was pitch dark in the shed, but the heat was still on. When I looked in the shed I found every plant I had put in the shed dead. No chance of them coming back it seems. This would have usually upset me, but for some reason it didn’t this time. As I was driving from Louisiana this morning God started showing me some things while I was thinking about how I had not been able to save the plants.
If you look at people today, you see people going about their business day in and day out and there is no change usually. We choose to do things that provide us a lively hood and try to enjoy life to the uttermost. We even catch ourselves doing things that God cannot be pleased with us about either. I was reminded today that we are much like these plants that I’ve lost. We need food, water, and tender love and care. We want to be warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. Just as the plants need food, water, tender love and care, they also need light, so they might live.
If you look in the New Testament part of the Bible you will find that men’s lives are full of darkness. Darkness represents sin, and therefore we are dying in our sins. People in this world seem to have their own agendas. Oh, I know we all have certain agendas, but people in general do not have God anywhere on their agendas. We live in darkness and wonder why we aren’t spiritually healthy. We are condemned to death, just as my plants were, because they were not in the light. No light showed down on them. Jesus explained it this way, talking to Nicodemus, who was a teacher of the Word and didn’t understand what Jesus was telling him at first. He said, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”(John 3:19-21 KJV) Our deeds, everything we do, as individuals are evil. Paul said, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23.). Even people who claim to love the Lord and claim to be HIS children try to remain in the darkness of this old world. We don’t feel accepted by the world, while we are living for Christ, so we live like them, do like them and act like them. Here is the bad news about that: The world hates you anyway.
Paul told us to be separate from the world. When you are truly saved there is a change that tells the world that you are different. Jesus said that we can’t live for the world and HIM too. John tells us that we cannot love the world and God at the same time. He goes on to say if we love the world the “Love of the Father” is not in us. What does that mean to you? Saved people can use the excuse of just being a sinner saved by grace all we want too. Even though it is true that we who have put our faith in God are sinners who were saved by His marvelous grace, we should not take advantage of that grace. We should follow the light to be stronger and spiritually healthier. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,” (John 8:12 KJV).
I am reminded of the fact that when Jesus called upon the disciples HE said just two words, “Follow ME.” They dropped all that they did and followed HIM. Did they have issues? Yes, they did have issues, but they still followed Christ. Had my plants had the proper light they would not have died. They would have gotten stronger and healthier, and when spring came around they would have provided fruit for the eyes to see. But, darkness took all the life out of them and they died.
Darkness kills everything and everyone. Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23. Only true light can make something live. Men who choose darkness rather than light end up dead and empty for all eternity, unless they really seek the light, Jesus Christ. Choosing darkness over light is rejecting Christ. Child of God remember what Peter said, in 1 Pet 2:9 KJV, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:” He has called us all out of the darkness in to HIS light that we may all have eternal life. Do you want to live? Child of God; let’s all remember that HE is the LIGHT of our Life and that we should seek to get even closer to HIM. Just some food for thought.