I heard something recently that struck me hard: darkness can’t overcome light, but it does invade the places where light is absent. Consider it a moment: light casts no shadow, light has no darkness within it, darkness and light cannot exist in the same space at the same time. Jesus says YOU are the Light of the world, and He also says that no one lights a lamp and places it under a basket. Jesus didn’t save you to hide you and for you to live a quiet, peaceful life; you were made to be seen! And Christians together are as the city on a hill that Jesus describes, shining out in the darkness. We aren’t called to be hidden, but to reveal the Light of Life, Jesus Christ, to all humanity. This begs the question of us, though, am I walking in that light, or am I hiding in the darkness?
Too many Christians have let people tell us that our faith is fine for church gatherings, and then proceed to make us feel worse about it by bashing said church gatherings. We have let them tell us when and where we can be Christians, and caused us to fear losing livelihoods, friendships and, in certain places, loss of property due to vandalism. We are told to shut our mouths, not to preach the Gospel, not to talk about sin (As a preacher, I’ve had well intentioned people tell me that I can’t talk about Sin because it won’t appeal to non-Christians, even though Jesus, Moses, the Prophets and all of the New Testament authors literally addressed sin and its consequences in every book of the Bible).
Christian, we are not called to be hidden in shadow, we are called to walk in the Light! Jesus will take care of our needs. He will meet us where we are at. Yes, we may lose much because of Him, even, in certain places, our own lives. But we must never let the world suppress us, and we must never stop spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. 1 John 1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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