In a Darkened World

Fear, hatred, rivalry, anger, anxiety, persecution, abortion, bitterness, divorce, revenge, beheadings, greed, self-seeking to the destruction of others, human trafficking   --  all these things and more characterize the world of darkness, of chaos, of confusion  -- the abyss into which we tend to spiral when left to ourselves.

But God has not left us to our own devices.  He sent His Son not to condemn us, but to save us from those things that threaten to destroy us.  Jesus is the Light of the World, and those who remain in Him remain in the Light.  Not only "remain" in the Light, but themselves are filled with the same Light.  These are the ones that keep the world from spiraling headlong into utter destruction and darkness. 

In the Book of Genesis, after the first 11 chapters of a world spinning out of control, bringing on the Great Flood, God chooses one man -- Abraham -- and his family, whom He will teach to establish righteousness in a darkened world.  As Abraham walks with God on a daily basis, and communicates with Him about everything, God gradually makes Abraham "a man after his own heart," words that will later be used to describe David. 

In every generation, there are those who walk with God, who communicate with Him, who learn from Him the ways of righteousness and truth.  Unlike the nations who do not know God, the Israelites always had His instruction -- the Torah, the "Law."  Though they did not always follow what they knew to be right, they still had the standard by which God judges the world.  Unfortunately, knowing the Law does not save us from human nature -- the tendency to seek not what is just, but what is pleasurable. 

It takes a relationship with Jesus Christ, who dwelling in us, continues to teach us and shape us on a daily basis.  It is His life, His law, His light that saves the world from sin and darkness.  There are those who walk with Him and those who still do not know Him, and are condemned to walk in darkness, suffering the pains of darkness, until they come to Him.

"If you knew the Gift of God," Jesus told the lonely woman at the well, "you would ask, and I would give you, a fountain of water springing up to eternal life."  She was so thirsty at that point for love, joy, peace, understanding, communion with others after being rejected for her sins, that she received His words with joy.  He set her free from separation , separation from God (under the "Law"), separation from friends and neighbors (who condemned her way of life).  But the Father saw her loneliness and sent His Son to her alone at the well.  To her, He spoke words of light and of truth, words that changed her life forever.  Reconciled to God through His Son, she was also reconciled to the village who once scorned her.  Now light, she was a missionary to those who still sat in darkness and condemnation. 

There is a world of Light and a world of darkness.  There is no in between.  If we are not traveling toward the light, we are inevitably moving toward the darkness.  The morning after Katrina, I woke up in a shelter with 300 other survivors.  From them, I was hearing about the shooting and looting filling the city of New Orleans, and I reflected at that moment that in times of crisis, there is no "grey" area.  People choose either heaven or hell at that moment --- either they help one another, or they perish together.  In those moments, the sons of God and the sons of Satan reveal themselves for who they are.