“Look on the bright side.”
“Focus on the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Every cloud has a silver lining.”
We’ve all faced dark times in our lives, so chances are we’ve heard one of these idioms at least once. Maybe we even spoke them to someone else.
The fact that they reference light in the midst of darkness is ironic. Almost as if there’s an unspoken acknowledgement of the darkness around us and the unnatural way it seems to permeate every area of our lives.
Even though we all experience problems of various kinds and degrees, it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Death was not part of the original design, nor its roots of disease and hate. Division was not supposed to be the norm, and evil was not to be everywhere. Good days were not to be the exception but everyday reality.
We try our best to return to this way of life. To keep the darkness from invading. We do it by teaching kids to treat others as they want to be treated. We serve our communities and love our neighbors. We provide for those less fortunate than ourselves and give to organizations that do the same. We speak words of affirmation and share optimistic phrases like the ones listed at the beginning of this post.
But what happens when these methods fall short? What do you do when the darkness seems too big and your ability to cope too small? What happens when no amount of positive thinking can stand up to the darkness in you, let alone in society at large?
The world may offer some decent solutions, ones that work for a season or at least shed a glimmer of light in the cavern of your despair. Yet, like everything else this world offers, they will fade until they’re ineffective or nonexistent. Even if pursued and given with genuine fervor, they eventually lose their efficacy, if they had any at all.
What do we do then? How do we combat the ever-increasing presence of darkness in our world, let alone prevent and eradicate it?
Unfortunately, the solution is not more positive thinking, nor is it to only do what brings us life. These concepts, and their well-intentioned cousins, never eliminate the darkness. Not for one person, not for all people. Humans simply do not possess enough goodness or power to accomplish such a feat. Even if we all somehow managed to find a way to work together, we’d never be able to eliminate darkness.
The only One who can destroy the darkness is the only One who is Light. Not just someone who brings random flickers, but is the embodiment of darkness-dispelling Light: Jesus Christ.
How do we combat the ever-increasing presence of darkness in our world, let alone prevent and eradicate it?
In his gospel, the apostle John recorded Jesus saying, “‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” (John 8:12). Several chapters before when John introduced Jesus as the light, he said, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:5).
Jesus’ identity as the Light is not just a cutesy phrase Christians use to brandish our throw pillows or coffee cups. It’s not a figment of our imaginations we hope to speak into existence. It’s not something we believe because we can’t face reality or we negate the evil happening around us. It is the Truth—one that we have experienced and one which is obvious to anyone who has eyes to see. We attest to its veracity because we have witnessed Jesus cast out the darkness within us and those around us. We point to its presence in its beautiful manifestations in the world, like the rising of the sun and the birth of a new life.
We agree with the truth “that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). We sing with David, the psalm writer and King of Israel, when he wrote, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). We take up the charge Paul spoke in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus when he said, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). We also do the same with his words addressed to the Corinthian believers, “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 4:6).
For me, when the darkness of anxiety became too much for me to bear and its end an impossibility to fathom, Jesus shed His light in me. And He didn’t just offer a temporary reprieve, but an eternal beam that casts out every speck of darkness.
Before Jesus transformed me, phrases like “Look on the bright side” never gave me the hope I needed. They just made me feel like my problems weren’t valid or important. They convinced me there was something wrong with me if I couldn’t find the bright side. They offered no answer to why the darkness was even there in the first place, neither did they ever take it away completely. At best, all phrases like this one do is the only thing they can do: put an undersized bandage on an infected wound. They may numb the pain or temporarily shield it from worsening, but eventually the bandage will peel off. Then, all we’re left with is more pain from the bandage being torn off and the original wound, only now it’s deeper and more inflamed.
Jesus, on the other hand, is the One—the only One—who can heal from within with His Light. He exposes all the darkness inside us and shines His light in all the crevices. He exposes our jealousy, hate, pride, lust and dishonesty. Not to shame us into submission or scare us into mindless obedience, but to cast out the darkness. As the Great Physician, His goal is to remove the cancer, not leave it there and convince us it will go away with the right amount of positive thinking. He also doesn’t condemn us just because it’s there.
He knows darkness is within each of us because sin is within each of us (see Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8). It’s part of our nature. Every time we lie, cheat, burst out in anger, spread hate with our words, steal, lust after that which is not ours and put ourselves first (higher than God and others), we demonstrate our sinful nature. The mere mental expression of any of these is just the same as if we had physically committed them (see Matthew 5:19, 27-28; James 2:10), for out of the heart the mouth speaks and the body does (Luke 6:35, see also Matt. 12:34, 15:18; Proverbs 18:21). What we rest our mind upon reveals the true nature of our hearts (see Matt. 6:21).
Yet, even then, God chose to shine His light within us anyway. He removes the evil, and He replaces it with His goodness (see Eph. 4:20-24, Col. 3:10).
Jesus knows all of this because He is God, and therefore He knows and is above all things (see Colossians 1:16-19). In fact, He knew us even before He, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit created the universe (see Psalm 139:13-16). All before sin entered the picture through Adam and Eve chose themselves over God and thus passed on their sinful nature to all of mankind.
Yet, even then, God chose to shine His light within us anyway. He removes the evil, and He replaces it with His goodness (see Eph. 4:20-24, Col. 3:10).
When Jesus took on the appearance of man to bear man’s sins and the just penalty they deserve, He came to dispel the darkness we had created with our sin. He came to remove the curse of sin from those who would believe Him and the darkness it left in its wake.
Because of Him, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). How? Because “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (v. 4).
There is nowhere a person can go where His light cannot reach them. We read of this truth throughout the Bible, but it’s poignantly clear in the psalms, as we read in Psalm 139:
“If I ascend to heaven, You (God) are there! If I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), You are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You” (vv. 8-12).
His light is so bright and powerful, it makes even darkness seem as if it were light! That is why His people won’t need the sun or a lamp for light in eternal life, “for the Lord God will be their light” (Revelation 22:5).
Notice though the phrase, “His people,” in other words, those who believe Him. This is not just those who believe in God, as in a distant acknowledgement of His existence, but those who believe Him. Those who take Him at His word and give their lives to Him because of who He is and what He has done for us (take on the sins of those who believe in Him and forever reconcile us with Himself).
God’s light extends to every person, but it’s our relationship to Him which dictates the nature of His light. It will either be a refuge or a rebuke. It will either expose the darkness to eradicate it or expose it in judgment.
His light is so bright and powerful, it makes even darkness seem as if it were light!
Just as our crimes against earthly laws deserve punishment, even more so our sins against God. He cannot be a just God if He overlooked sin. Imagine if a father dismissed the heinous, premeditated murder of his son by letting the murderer go free with no consequences. Imagine if a judge absolved a man who kidnapped, raped and imprisoned a 5-year-old child. We would demand justice. We do demand justice when injustice has been done. Why do we not expect the same from a holy God, One who has only extended us lovingkindness, even to the point of taking on our sins so that we may be reconciled to Him?
God wishes none to perish (see 2 Peter 3:9), and He longs to shine His light upon you. He wants to cast out every iota of darkness from within you. Will you let Him? Will you open your heart to His healing light?
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” (John 8:12).
References:
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). Crossway Bibles.
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