Nena Arias | August 14, 2023
“For you are all children of light, children of the day.
We are not of the night or of the darkness.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:5)
The verse above clearly indicates that if you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ you are a person of light. There is a tendency to think, I am only one person, what can I do that will make the difference in this darkened world? Clearly there is much you can do because even a small light always dispels darkness. On the other hand, we don’t have to impact the entire world alone. If every single born-again believer in Christ is diligent to shine their light wherever they are the impact of light will spread and far and wide because there are believers all over the world. As a matter of fact, it is reported that there are 2.6 billion adherents to the Christian faith right now in the world. That is roughly 1 out of 3 in the world population. Certainly, we could bring greater light of God’s truth to the world by now.
If you are genuinely born-again, you have a very specific memory of that day and that experience that you will never forget. You probably remember what took place that brought you to that point where you wanted to change your way of life and accepting Jesus became the personal answer for you and you’ve never been the same since. Hopefully there has been a consistent, progressive walk with the Lord and growth and maturity of your faith walk is very evident.
Some of you may have even gone the way of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) who walked away but then came back to his senses and accepted the Father’s conditions as being wiser than our foolish view of life, but you are now once again in fellowship with the heavenly Father. I am happy for that because you are once again a child of light.
Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians by stating what Christ does for the believer in Him: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…” (Colossians 1:13)
“The domain of darkness?” We know what it is to be under the dominion of the power of darkness and the exasperation of not knowing how to break away from its grip. It is too powerful for any human effort and nothing we did to break free worked, rather the grip kept tightening until we finally understood that only by accepting Christ’s liberating power could we truly achieve our freedom.
This domain of darkness controls every human being that has not been born-again; it is no respecter of person, age, ethnicity, or social status. No social institution is out of reach for this power to control; this includes all areas of social life and politics as well as church and family. Without God’s protection, these areas of life will not be exempt from this power. Don’t think for a moment that science, technology, humanities, commerce, and education will escape this powerful darkness. The devil knows he has to permeate all areas, or he will not be successful in achieving his goal of destruction.
To dispel the darkness, we are to shine God’s light and his truth in all areas of human development, wherever our life takes us. There is way too much darkness in our country at all levels, in government and everything that government touches, healthcare, education, national security, armed forces, all departments of intelligence, the courts at all levels, the open borders, not punishing violence and crime like we are supposed to, the so-called “women’s right” to murder the child in her womb, how they want our approval for homosexual rights, the incessant racism, and much more.
We are supposed to be a Christian nation, but things are not getting better. How can that be if Christians are still majority in this country and our commission is to shine God’s light to dispel all this darkness?
Who is more to blame for all this darkness? Two thousand years ago Paul answered this question with precision: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
Evil never has a good ending, and that is what history is always warning us about. The human mind that is influenced by evil ideas is blinded to the reality of God’s divine plan that was completed in Christ’s resurrection and how His life indwells the life of the biblical Christian. Christ in us is the living hope for this darkened world. Consciously or unconsciously, we make the difference so don’t be afraid or discouraged from shining your light, small as it may be. Even a small light always dispels the darkness. No excuse will be acceptable if we don’t uphold God’s truth to light in the midst of darkness.
“For you are all children of light, children of the day.
We are not of the night or of the darkness.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:5)