Light- The Source is God

Genesis is, The Book of Beginnings. It opens to us, in the first thoughts, the absence of presence, which is darkness, and the depth of darkness. The next thought is the presence of God moving and expelling darkness. The principle of Light over-taking darkness is an underlying truth in the spiritual world. The writer of Genesis, whom I believe to be Moses, begins the record of creation with, deep darkness, and a coming Presence.

The Gospel of John gives us many instances of the Light image. Jesus said that he was the light of the world. The gospel records in John 1: 3-4 In Him was Presence and presence was the Light. The Presence was illuminating the world and the darkness (absence) could not overpower the presence. Presence was the Light given to every man.my paraphrase   Jesus spoke of his followers as being the light of the world. The epistles refer to believers as, "Children of Light".

Now, the question must be asked, Why is there still so much darkness in the world? If Christians are the light of the world and light expels darkness what has happened in our world? There are books galore about missions, church growth, evangelism, spiritual darkness and battles in the unseen world. All of those books have a place and use in our church world. I am not going to begin to pretend that I am any expert in regards to the topics listed. My opinion is very grass roots and basic. I believe there is evidence in scripture and history to support my opinion.

The battle against spiritual darkness has already been won. Christ defeated darkness when he was suspended on the cross. Remember the earthquake and darkness that covered the land, seemed in the spiritual domain that Christ was going to lose and evil would win. How can a dying man win? A dead man could not win, but the Risen Christ did win and the large battle has been decided. Presence expels darkness for all of eternity.

Where you and I live there are still many battles to be fought. Evil and darkness are all around us and it will be that way as long as man has a free will and God allows more time for people to turn to Christ. I do not need to speak of the unthinkable things we as humans are capable of. The media is overflowing with reports each day, at home and abroad. We fight the battles against darkness by our words and actions. On of the strongest weapons we have is love. Especially the way we love each other.

It seems that loving each other is rather difficult. We proclaim to be a people of grace yet we judge each other and wound each other in very deep ways. Our homes should be places of grace and peace. I have learned over the years that grace needs to have a place in our homes and then in neighborhood. Homes filled with judgement reveal the need for grace, for the judged and the judge. Many times the judge slams the gavel down on themselves as well as others. How can our light shine in the darkness when it is smothered in the living room? Let us be people of grace in our homes,  first.

We must allow Presence to expel darkness in our own hearts and this is a process that is joint, between you and the Holy Spirit. Presence will expel darkness to the extent that you allow. So many of us,(I) have a very acceptable form of Godliness. We worship God and really desire to live a life that is pleasing to Christ. Yet, how many of us have little spaces in our souls where we do not really want God poking around. We allow ourselves to have little closets without presence. Do you have issues with anger, pride, envy, jealousy, gossip, lust, power, money, habits. These may very well be closets without presence. Ask God, if you have the courage, He will tell you.

The next post will tick many of you off, so be it. It will deal with the church and how the church has in fact been used to make us a, Dim Lit.