Why we need to talk about darkness
The contrast between light and dark
2 Peter 1:19 (KJV) We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
What I know about science tells me that light and dark are related. In fact, they contrast one another so that you can determine which is which. In the light, you can see the darkness, and in the darkness, you can see the light.
Some Christians wonder why we need to talk about both, and I would like to help you understand why. Importantly, it is not to run people off, but to help them find the truth, the light! They are already aware of the darkness, they see it every day. Running away from the darkness never causes it to leave, it just opens you to more of it. What people need is the will and the power to move more into the light. The proof of this is that Jesus told us that HE is the light!
Galatians 3:24-25 (KJV) Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
You will see in scripture that until we understood sin, we could not appreciate righteousness. Until the law was introduced, we could not achieve freedom. We needed God to show us what was bad in order for us to strive for what is good. We needed to understand the darkness in order to seek the light.
Of course, we need to help people become motivated toward good things, but we all inherently know what darkness is. The darkness is not something we discover because we can all see it in our own hearts and in the hearts of others. To look away is no solution, we must lean in and make it flee. What we need to learn is how to go from one to the other.
Isaiah 42:6-7 (KJV) I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Now, you might also ask why we need to spend so much time in the darkness, and I would simply remind you that many people do not understand why they are in the darkness. No one is telling them that there is more light for them to live for. So the good news is not that darkness is not real, but that the light is more powerful. The fact of all of our lives is that we need to know the dark in order to move toward the light.
So, how do we balance the conversation? We should study the reality of both the darkness and the light, remind people why we need Jesus, and then lead them from the reality of the darkness to the power of the light!
God is in charge of both the darkness and the light…
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