Darkness
Have you ever been in a dark room, maybe waking up in the middle of the night? When you look around, it’s surprising how many things you can actually see. Maybe the only light you have is peeking through your window blinds or curtains. You might only have the light from the little LED on your smoke alarm or digital clock. If this was all you knew, you might think it wasn’t too bad. You can see some things, and you can feel your way around what you can’t see.
Light
Then, you turn on the light switch. At first, you can’t see anything, because your eyes are used to the darkness. You might even be tempted to turn off the light, because it’s hurting your eyes. If you keep the light on and let your eyes adjust, you start to see things that you missed before. Someone left their shoes in the middle of the floor, and you were about to trip over them. You never noticed the painting that was on the wall. The furniture that you could just make out before now is suddenly visible. Colors appear everywhere that weren’t there before, beautiful details that you just couldn’t see.
Easier
What if you had decided that turning on that light switch hurt your eyes too much, that the darkness was good enough? Think about all that you would miss — the tripping hazards, the vibrant colors, the beautiful details.
Knowing God
Our spiritual life is a lot like that light switch. It’s definitely easier to just stay in the dark. It takes work to live out a Christian life. When we first turn on the “light switch” by committing our lives to Jesus, we begin to see things more clearly. As we get closer to Jesus and become more like Him, we see even more.
Tripping Hazards
There are many “tripping hazards” in this life — things that we can’t see without God’s help.
The Devil
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NASB)
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
Satan hates God, because he wants to be God. Thankfully, he never will be. We could get into the history of how and why, but for now, we just need to know that because we were created in the image of God, Satan also hates us and wants to destroy our lives.
Angel of Light
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NASB)
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Satan doesn’t usually appear to someone and tell them what he is planning on doing. He usually disguises himself and pretends to be an “angel of light.” Unfortunately, there are many people who either knowingly or unknowingly choose to follow him and become his servants.
These are tripping hazards. The only way to avoid them is by turning the light on them. Then, you will see them for who they really are. Otherwise, if all you listen to is what they say, it will begin to make sense. In reality, though, you are still stumbling around in the dark.
False Prophets
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NASB)
6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (NASB)
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
There are many people who write books and give seminars about their own philosophies on life and the afterlife. Usually, the message will talk about how there are many ways to heaven, and we just need to be sincere and be a “good person.” Of course, they will define the “good” part however people will want to hear. These people are teaching others about things that they don’t even understand. They pretend to be experts or have some special revelation from God, but they are clueless to the true ways of God, teaching people their own false ideas, leading them further and further away from the truth.
Tickling Ears
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NASB)
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
It’s been said that people do the things that they want to do because that’s what they want to do. If I really want to keep living the way that I am living, I will find someone else to agree with me. If they tell me that God approves of what I’m doing, that’s even better.
These “myths” come in many shapes and sizes. They might say that they have a “special revelation” from God. They could claim that an angel or a vision appeared to them.
Many people say that they believe in “science” (however they define/twist that word), but they can’t believe in the supernatural.
All of these are myths, because they are denying the truth of God.
Open Our Eyes
2 Kings 6:15-17 (NASB)
15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha and his servant were not men of war. All around them was an army with thousands of trained soldiers, with weapons and chariots. Understandably, the servant was more than a little fearful. The prophet Elisha, though, could see past the natural into the supernatural. He saw that he had nothing to fear.
Lord, open our eyes to see You and what You are doing!
God’s Riches
Ephesians 1:18-19 (NASB)
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
Our eyes need to be “enlightened”, have more spiritual light. The more light that we have, the more of God’s “riches” we will see. There is so much more for us to see, if we could only see it. God’s glory, His greatness, His majesty are right there in front of us. How can we see them?
Open Minds
Some people define an open mind as someone who will believe and accept anything. That can be extremely dangerous. If I went out and ate anything and everything that I saw, I would probably get very sick. What we need is for God to open our minds to understand His ways and what He is doing.
Luke 24:45 (NASB)
45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
Jesus’ disciples had spent over three years living with Him, but they still did not know who He really was. They needed Jesus to open their minds, so they could understand all of the Old Testament scriptures that had predicted His life, death, and resurrection. Without God’s help — His light — we cannot understand the Bible. There are people who read the Bible and consider it great literature, but they miss the whole point. The Bible is there to open our minds to understand and our spiritual eyes to see the incredible forgiveness we have available in Jesus Christ, and the riches of His presence in our lives today.
Holy Spirit
John 14:26 (NASB)
26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Jesus said that He was sending the Holy Spirit, Who would teach us all things and help us to remember the words of Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit teaching us, we are stumbling in the dark. He is our guide, our companion, our tutor.
Lamp
Psalm 119:105 (NASB)
105 Nun. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
God’s word, the Bible, will help light the way. Like a flashlight on a hike in the woods, it can keep us from falling off of a cliff or running into a bear. If you are walking in an unfamiliar place in the darkest night with no moonlight and clouds obscuring the stars, you would be very thankful for the flashlight to guide you safely home.
2 Peter 1:19 (NASB)
19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
Peter was an eyewitness of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He was there on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on him and others, like tongues of fire over each of their heads. He touched the Light of God — Jesus — every day for over three years. When he says that the Bible is a lamp shining in a dark place, we can believe Him.
God’s Light
Stepping into God’s light of salvation in Jesus is just like turning on the light switch in your room. All of a sudden, you can see things that might have tripped you up. You can see what lies ahead of you, and you can see the details and beauty that was impossible to see before.
Trust in Jesus. Study His Word, the Bible. Spend time meeting with Him in prayer. Do this every day, and you will see your life suddenly getting brighter and brighter, until we are all standing in the presence of God forever.
Revelation 21:23 (NASB)
23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
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