The Darkness Needs the Light

The power went out. 

Not the most impressive statement, I know. Power outages happen, right? We've all experienced them. But this one was different. This one was dark, I mean really dark. Trust me, you've never seen pitch black until the power goes out on a 700 acre ranch. 

Dark. 

After the power suddenly returned, thought about this situation. I thought about the spiritual application here and the true, yet often overused, metaphor for being a "light in the darkness".

So often the primary focus of the metaphor is the light. But I'd rather focus for a moment on the darkness. In our modern society we really have no idea what darkness looks like or feels like...even if the power goes out. But get far enough away, isolated enough, and then have the power go out...that's a better idea of darkness. 

In the darkness there is fear and anxiety. There's a heaviness and loneliness. It is suffocating. There is a desire for companionship, but no way of finding it--so you either sit and wait for someone to find you or you blindly wander, running into things, getting nowhere except maybe hurt. 

That is darkness. That is life without the gospel. Complete and utter darkness--hopeless. That is why the metaphor of shining your light is so important. The darkness needs the light. People need the gospel. We need to grab ahold of the desperate need hidden in the darkness. The light is needed there.

Jesus' final command wasn't, "shine your light while you sit on your butt and maybe someone will find you and then you can have your preacher share the gospel with them." No. His final command was to "Go!" We are encouraged to "shine your light before men."

In your workplace-go.

In your home-go.

In your neighborhood-go.

Sometimes I think we wait for some grand call of God to go, but God doesnt need a grand gesture. We are mistaken to believe that we need to be a missionary or pastor to share the gospel. Not so. As you go about your daily life-go.

Go and make disciples. Share the gospel. Get up and go shine your light. The darkness needs the light. 

People need the gospel. Go.

Who in your life needs the gospel? What hinders you from doing so?