Lighting the Darkness

I’ve been reading recently about the Columbus Day Storm, which hit the Pacific Northwest in October of 1962. At Oregon’s State Hospital, a facility for those struggling with mental health issues, the power went out as the storm approached. Soon, the winds raged, fiercer than any storm in living memory. Huge trees fell, buildings lost windows, roofs, even walls. Debris swirled dangerously through the air.

I can only imagine the roar of the winds along with bangs, crashes, and thuds heard from inside the hospital. The patients, already struggling with mental health issues, were understandably terrified to say the least.

The head of the hospital, helpless to do anything about the storm, but wanting to alleviate the patients’ suffering as much as possible, asked them what they wanted most. There in the midst of roaring wind and the ever-increasing danger and distress of the storm, the patients only wanted one thing: light.

We, too, live in dark days, and the world around us seems full of ever-increasing danger. A quick look at the headlines of the past week will confirm that our world does indeed seem like a dangerous place. The unsaved around us have every reason to fear the growing storm of current events, because for them, life is a terrifyingly brief darkness before an even more terrifying end, Ephesians 2:12 describes their darkness well: “having no hope, and without God in the world.”

And what is it that will alleviate their suffering? Light.

Just like the desire for visible light when we’re in darkness, the desire for spiritual light is innate. The world around us is—whether or not they like to admit it—searching for light. It may be through religious ceremonies or pilgrimages, or it may be through intellectual study, or it may be through drugs or alcohol or other addictions. And yet, no matter what the unsaved do, they can never find light for their darkness apart from Christ.

In John 8:12, 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.”

So how do we get this “light of life?” John 12:46 gives us this truth from another angle, also in a statement made by Jesus:

“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.”

The only remedy for the darkness within and without us is faith in Christ. That is why we as Christians must be faithful to be sharing that light with others. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:16,

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.”

The verses just before this one in Matthew 5 tell us that we are to be lights in the world, like a city set on a hill or a candle in a candlestick. (vv.14-15) We are to be shining out the light of Christ into the darkness. But so often, we live as if we, too, are defined by the darkness around us. When overwhelmed by the evil in this world, or the tragedies, injustices, and persecutions happening every day, we need to remember that Christ is the light of the world, and that we are to shine forth His light.

1 Thessalonians 5 deals with this idea of living as “children of the light”:

“But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” (v.8)  

Because of our relationship with Christ, we have the honor and responsibility of representing Him in who we are and how we behave. But although righteousness of behavior is right and good, it must flow from a heart right with God—a heart guarded by the breastplate of faith and Christlike love. Our minds, as well need to be protected, guarded from the world’s dark philosophies and patterns of thought by the sure and certain hope of salvation.

I think this is where I tend to struggle the most. I get so wrapped up in the daily details of life, that I lose sight of the treasure of salvation,  and the glorious future I am promised because of the forgiveness Christ purchased with His blood.

When that happens, I become easily discouraged and overwhelmed. Whatever I allow between me and the brightness of Christ effectively throws a shadow over me, growing until I begin thinking and acting almost as if the light wasn’t even there.

Does your sky feel dark today, dear Reader? Perhaps you and I need to ask God to show us anew the light of His salvation, and to reveal what it is we have allowed to cast a dark shadow over the peace and joy He has promised to give those who trust Him.

And then, we need to go shine His light to those in the hopeless darkness of a world without hope and without God.

“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” 

1 John 1:5