Lights in This Dark World

 

Going about our everyday routines, we can see that people that are not prone to kindness will no longer constrain themselves. They display a kind of anger and ruthless attitude that is very destructive, and very sad to see.  God’s expectation is that His children of light will not meet them in that same place of darkness. Heavenly Father tells us in Philippians 2:13 that we must always remember that He is working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. So, instead of going toe to toe with someone who lacks spiritual maturity, we are to melt away their rage by pouring on the love of Christ. If we’re not prepared to do this, God warns us in His Word that there are some things that will happen, and we’re not going to like them.

All of us have dealt with regret, and we’ve all made mistakes that we wish we hadn’t. None of us are perfect, and we’re going to have missteps and mishaps in life, but it is our responsibility and duty as God’s children to minimize them. We use the “no one’s perfect” excuse a little too much, and often we do it to justify not growing in Christ in the areas we know we need to. God’s expectation is that we mature into the full stature of His beloved Son. Our Heavenly Father is perfect, beyond intelligent, and brilliant in every way. He would not hold us responsible for measuring up to the example of Christ if we were unable to get it done.

God doesn’t hold our mistakes against us. Even though most of us have made some colossal whammies at one time or another, our Heavenly Father can erase the hurt and sting of all our past blunders. He tells us in Romans 8:28(NLT), “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Despite our mistakes, God is able to redeem situations and cause all things to work together for our good, but we must remember there are two prerequisites that must be met. We must love God, and we must be called according to His purpose.

Loving God includes those wonderful emotions of joy and bliss, but this is only a small part of demonstrating our love for Him. We sometimes think that love is all about emotions, but love is all about commitment. Love is a choice to remain steadfast and loyal through our faith in God. Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, made it very plain for us in John 14:15(NLT), when he said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” Doing the things that God has commanded us to do is how we demonstrate our love for Him.

As the world’s confusion and chaos increases so should our devotion and obedience to God. We need to be pouring on His love big time. He will reward us when we make the decision to decrease in the flesh and allow the Spirit to work in us through peace and love, but some of us don’t trust this. We feel we have to have the last word, or that we must retaliate when someone goes low. We must recognize that everyone we meet is fighting a battle we can’t see, and those who do not know Christ in the pardon of their sins are in misery. They are without hope because they don’t know the One who is hope itself. We would save ourselves so much trouble and grief if we would learn to really yield to the Spirit the way Jesus Christ teaches us.

God tells us in 2Peter 3:17-18(NLT), “17 I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. 18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.” Obeying God’s commandment to walk in His love sets us up to receive His blessings. It gives us secure and solid footing, but we can easily lose this footing if we get carried away and let the wickedness of others bring us down.

The trick of the enemy is to send people and situations that prick our weak spots. Often, we don’t recognize it as the devil pulling the strings, and instead we see the person as the enemy. We must be wiser, especially in the times in which we now live. Speaking out of term or allowing a situation to get out of hand can cost us our lives. Ephesians 6:12(NLT) tells us, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” We must not let the enemy continue to undermine our spiritual maturity. God has called us to be lights in this dark world, and the world needs us to shine now more than ever.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Lights in This Dark World”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.