Taking Advantage of the Darkness
Taking Advantage of the Darkness
This past April, some friends of mine traveled to Dallas, Texas, to experience the total solar eclipse.
I did not.
I sat on the couch in my living room, typing away as the phenomenon took place, and it had zero impact on my day — other than that I was a bit surprised by how little of an effect the eclipse had on my surroundings.
You see, our living room has incredible natural lighting. Windows cover the majority of two walls, and overhead, there is a skylight. So even if all the blinds had been closed that day (which they weren’t), I still would’ve had a pretty good idea of how dark it was getting outside. Yet strangely enough, it never got any darker outside — not noticeably, at least, despite the fact that the sun was about 60% covered at the peak of the eclipse here in my hometown.
I think with all the hype, I was expecting something more.
And I wonder if, maybe, non-Christians have a similar expectation about us, as followers of Jesus…
We’ve hyped up Christianity and the impact that Jesus has had on our lives, and we’ve proclaimed that He is the answer to all the world’s problems. But often, when we walk into the same room as our unbelieving neighbors — God’s light on display for all to see — the room doesn’t look any different to them.
I think there are two possible reasons for this reality: (1) either we don’t actually look much different from non-Christians, or (2) the room just isn’t dark enough yet. Or perhaps there is a third explanation, in which both of these things are true.
Sometimes, I hear Christian despairing over the state of our world.
“It’s so much worse now than it used to be,” they’ll say.
Or, “This world’s going to hell in a hand basket!”
Or, “Morality’s gone out the window!”
Or, “I’m so scared for the next generation!”
I used to argue that it’s no worse now than it used to be. That humanity has always been hell-bent on disobeying God and doing things our own way, ever since the very first human sinned (Genesis 3). That there is simply no end to the creative potential of sinful humans for dreaming up new ways to hurt themselves or others (Genesis 6:5; Proverbs 6:16-19; Romans 1:18-32).
And while there is some truth to that, I’m willing to admit now that I was partially wrong; because it’s also true that the days in which we live are, in fact, growing darker. You know how I know this? Because when Jesus told His followers what to expect in the last days (which is the time in which you and I are living, though we should not necessarily assume that we’re near the end of that period of time), He had this to say:
“You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of labor pains.
“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
- Jesus (Mathew 24:6-14, CSB)
“Lawlessness will multiply.” In other words, Jesus prophesied that humanity’s sin problem was going to get worse. This world is, in fact, getting darker as the end draws near!
But we’ll come back to this point momentarily, because Jesus said something else here that’s deserving of our full attention. Jesus warned that, as a result of the world growing darker, “the love of many will grow cold.” This is a sobering point when we realize that Jesus was talking about us, His followers, when He made this statement. As the sins of the world multiply, we are the ones who are at risk of growing cold — or you might say, burning out.
I think we’re already seeing this take place. As sinful behaviors multiply — both inside and outside of our churches — we Christians are getting really good at holding fast to our morals and values and rights, but too often at the expense of remaining patient, kind, generous, humble, polite, selfless, even-tempered, and forgiving; at the expense of not personally indulging in wrongdoing, while still making much of the times when people actually do what’s right; and at the expense of persistently bearing with one another, never wavering in our faith and hope in God alone, and continuing to love everyone no matter what (1 Corinthians 13:14-7).
I don’t think many people today would characterize Christians as being the most loving humans on the planet, and I don’t think it’s because unbelievers simply don’t understand what “real” love looks like. It might be because we (Christians) don’t understand what real, Christ-like love, looks like. Today’s Christians, by and large (myself often included), do not love like Jesus. I’m just being real with you.
According to Jesus, it’s by our Christ-like love for others that the world will be able to recognize us as His followers (John 13:34-35). Not by having the moral high ground, but by having the most Christ-like love.
Christ-like love is the truest testament to our faith. And while we’ve gotten really good at micromanaging one another and casting judgment on each other, I’m not sure how good we are at truly and tangibly loving anyone — fellow Christian or unbeliever — who doesn’t think and talk and walk the way we think they should.
So if our love is the stand-out feature that’s supposed to set us apart from an unbelieving world, far moreso than our public displays of our faith and “Christian values” (which mean nothing without Christ-like love, according to 1 Corinthians 13:1-3), then it stands to reason that we might not be standing out all that much, right now, no matter how morally good we’re living. We still don’t look like Christ, and so, we’re still not pointing others to Him.
The good news here, is twofold:
(1) You and I can choose to lay down our preconceived notions of love, and we can begin to take seriously Christ’s command to love one another just as He loved us. And as you and I allow His love to grow in us and to flow out of us, we will be transformed into beacons of hope, visible to anyone who’s searching for the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).
(2) Because the world is growing darker by the day, even if only a small number of us choose to take seriously Christ’s call to love like Him above all else, the little bit of light our lives will produce will make a greater difference than it ever could’ve if the darkness weren’t so great.
Have you ever walked into a dim-but-not-quite-dark room and tried to use the flashlight feature on your cell phone so that you could see in front of you more clearly? That little flashlight probably didn’t make a huge difference, because the light from a phone isn’t very bright in contrast to a dimly lit room. Sure, the small speck of light might be vaguely visible to someone else standing across the room from you, but it wouldn’t have much of an impact on the area around either one of you.
On the other hand, if you walked into a pitch black room and shined that little light, not only would someone else be able to see your phone’s flashlight turn on from across the room, but that little light — small as it is — would illuminate a clear path forward for you, and allow that other person to see the value of the light you carry!
What I’m trying to illustrate here is that, in order for a tiny light to make a huge impact in a room, that room has to be extremely dark.
I’ve been hearing more and more, as the days grow darker, that it’s our mission as Christians to fight back! To stop the darkness! To take back ground from the enemy — as if Satan holds any ground, here, that God above (Who’s still in control, by the way) hasn’t allowed Satan to temporarily hold for God’s good and ultimate purposes (Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-6; Job 38:8-11; 1 John 5:19; Revelations 12-22:5).
Have we considered the possibility that God is allowing the days to grow darker as Christ’s return draws nearer, so that His light can be more easily distinguished by those whom He’s still drawing to Himself?
This world’s not getting too dark. It’s getting just dark enough.
What the enemy has meant for evil, God has purposed for good. And how great a God we worship that even through this growing darkness, He’s revealing His mercy toward us!
Instead of fighting against the darkness and trying to keep it at bay, what if we let the darkness be darkness, and we put all of our concerted efforts into simply shining bright — loving like Christ — in the midst of the darkness, for all the world to see?
Here’s one final thought on the matter:
You and I are not like the sun. We’re like the moon. We’re not sources of light, but rather, we have the capacity to reflect the light that comes from the Son of God.
Have you ever been outside, in the middle of nowhere, during a new moon? It’s dark.
And as the moon begins to wax in the nights that follow, its tiny sliver of white doesn’t provide much light; it provides just enough light to be noticed against the blackness.
Then, as that sliver grows larger and larger, it turns into something that emanates enough light to reveal what was previously hidden by darkness, yet not enough light, still, to eliminate the darkness altogether. It’s a contrast, not a cover-up, and not a conquering force. (The sun — or the Son of God — is the conquering force!)
You and I weren’t called to eradicate darkness from the face the earth. We were called to be light-bearers in a dark world, carrying God’s light into dark spaces.
We need to shine brighter, and we do this by loving more.
And we don’t need to be scared of the darkness. We need to take advantage of the darkness.
The darker this world gets, the brighter you and I will appear — even if we’re only shining as dimly as the flashlights on our cell phones. But imagine the impact we could have, if we banded together, unified in the pursuit of loving others like Jesus, and we shone like a spotlight instead.
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