There are two forces in this world, and those forces compete for our allegiance. The forces are Light and darkness. The Light is full of truth and the darkness is full of deception. Light is life, but darkness is death.
Light is the gift of the forgiveness of God for all humankind. But it is a gift that must be received with an open heart and open hands. Far too many people have no interest in it. They see no benefit in it, and they certainly don’t see that it is the right way to life. They lean on what seems the only understanding they need—their own.
But there is no Light in our own understanding.
Light comes from without, not from within.
Forgiveness is the Light of God,
shed abroad in receptive hearts.
Forgiveness is, of course, a gift.
Forgiveness, as a gift, is given by God. It is to be imparted. It is to be experienced as forgiveness to be given by those who would thereby forgive. That’s right, the forgiven forgive.
All who give and receive forgiveness enjoy its light.
I mentioned in my previous article, Forgiveness, the Kindness of God, that “the love of scandalous abandon underpins [kindness],” because kindness truly seeks no reward.
Kindness loves because it can, and because it seeks no return or reward it is true love. It gives itself away, running, as it were, from the reciprocating pursuer. Kindness wants nothing of the reward and is only truly satisfied when it has gotten away with paying it forward.
Kindness is truly altruistic when there are many forms
of “altruism” that are not altruistic at all.
So, what motivates kindness? What is behind love? It has only now occurred to me to ask this question. I’m ready to write it. It is LIGHT that compels us to be kind.
The following passage sets out plainly the thrust of what is discussed in the rest of this article:
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”
—1 John 2:9-11 (NIV)
These forces—Light and darkness—if you like, the Spirit and the flesh—are ever at war in us from the moment we pledge allegiance to Christ. Light operates in the love of forgiveness, but darkness operates as the common default. Light transcends the world, but darkness mires us away from the Light.
Darkness justifies divisive words and deeds,
but Light sees to it that God is trusted.
Light shines truth and navigates us by faith.
~
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE LIGHT HAS GOT US?
We need to know very EARLY in our Christian faith walk—and it might come at the 40-year mark on our walk with Jesus—that we are sold out to the Light, that the darkness will not overcome it (John 1:5). Jesus is “the light of the world,” (John 8:12) just as we who “live by the truth” come “into the light” (John 3:21).
See the connection between “early” in our Christian walk and something nonchalant like a 40-year period after. If we reconcile Light this side of eternity, it really does not matter how long it took us to get there, but the earlier the better! There is no time to waste, but all the same it does not matter how long it takes to get there so long as we arrive.
The truth is that arrival at the Light
is a constant state of repentance.
Repentance is arrival;
repentance that sticks;
repentance as a lifestyle.
That’s how we know the Light has got us. Every waking moment we live in the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24. We pursue the truth, and the truth pursues us. The truth lights us up!
Even as we catch ourselves in our self-righteousness, we find we are IN the Light because we have allowed the Light to shine upon the darkness and purge the darkness out of us; the Light rooted it out of us. As soon as the Light shines, the darkness cannot bear it. Light a room and the darkness is gone, instantly.
See how being WRONG is the greatest thing on the journey of truth. It’s only as we see ourselves as wrong that we are positioned as right. Praise God for His revelation of our wrongness!
If only we can get excited about such a thing, we know that sinful pride is captive to the Spirit of God to the glory and honour of His Name.
We know that the Light has got us
when we are capable of being humbled.
Even better to be willing to be humbled.
Yet best by far to celebrate being humbled.
Even as we glory in being humbled,
the Light grants us access to the city of God.
~
THE TRUTH IN LIGHT THAT SETS US FREE TO LOVE
The truth in Light that sets us free to love is principally manifest in forgiveness. Forgiveness is an act of such faith that it beckons the Light to us. Light comes from forgiveness, even as we see that Light of our unforgiveness as a deceiving darkness.
There is NOTHING that will help us
see truth better than the LIGHT
that comes from forgiveness.
Even as we forgive,
the LIGHT is given to us—to SEE.
LIGHT is LOVE to TRANSACT, SEEING;
seeing in truth because forgiveness is love.
But the opposite is also true. I am astonished as to how much darkness and enmity is in the world, and I especially see it in the background of my corporate setting, from individual to individual, most where we are supposed to be providing “services” for people in crisis. It is so unbecoming of people who have supposedly committed their lives to saving lives and property and helping community to recover from disasters. Almost without exception people are ‘in it’ for themselves! But this is what life is like for us all. That darkness is in me and you!
It is evidence enough that the darkness must be purged from us all, especially including those in serving roles, who are called formally to help. And in Christian settings, our default is also inherently about missing the mark of kindness and entering judgement.
The moment we judge is the moment we lose the plot;
the Light is not in us when we judge.
The moment we refuse to forgive, the enemy has us!
But...
The truth in Light that sets us free to love
is principally manifest in forgiveness.
At every juncture we notice the yawning gap between judgement and kindness, we must appreciate it without entering judgement ourselves, for in judgement is darkness, but in kindness is the Light. He or she who has eyes to see, praise God that they see!
LIGHT MUST BECOME OUR ALL – BUT IT WILL COST!
Though living in the Light will cost us much, it is worth it, and indeed it can be seen that the Light is the price we must pay to truly live.
The Light as much as anything in this life
is worth more than anything.
We would be gullible if we thought we could transact in the Light—in God’s tremendous eternal power—without paying for it. It will cost us everything else, but the truth is everything else is folly in comparison to it. As is often said, a person is no fool to give up what they cannot keep—earthly riches—to gain what they cannot lose—riches of eternity.
So we can think of living this life in the Light as Life’s Admission Fee. Refuse to pay and we cannot enter what our days are supposed to afford us, and our legacy would be one of real everlasting regret.
A life well lived is a life lived in the Light.
The price to pay for such a life is a daily deposit.
~
PURGING THE SELF OF DARKNESS – A DAILY DISCIPLINE
This is where I want to close. In the sobering reflection of a healthy person who can humbly say, “But the darkness and enmity are in me, too!”
The very reason we are motivated to BE the person of Light is that we have acknowledged that the darkness is IN us on a daily basis. It should inspire us to come back to the truth each and every day.
It’s on a daily basis that we must “let the light in,” to let the Light have its way in us, to be honest and accountable, to be free from the self-deception where we are tempted to think we are wholly/holy good.
Sure, we have some goodness in us, but it isn’t the whole story. There are always things that threaten to keep us in the dark, just as there are things that rise up in us—fears, for instance; guilt and shame are two others—that threaten to prevent the Light purging the darkness from us.
Day by day, it is our choice, to leave the darkness and enter the Light with intention.
Daily we could pray a little prayer, even as we wake up:
LORD,
may it be in me today,
as I awaken to this Light,
as my eyes open to see this Light,
and as I allow the Light in through these portals,
as my body leaves the darkness of sleep which is rest but not reality,
and I consciously embrace the Day of Light that is now here,
may I agree that the Light would have its way in me,
so please make that occur today, LORD.
And may my moments continue,
in this vein, today.
AMEN.
If this prayer is to work in me,
I must see the truth and allow others to see me, too.
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