Walk in the Light

John 3:20-21.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

I’m using John 3:20 again because the contrast is so important. In verse 19 we learned that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

The next verse, verse 20, elaborates on that theme. Those who do evil hate the light. They do not want the light to expose what they do under cover of darkness. Darkness is the friend of evil because it covers their evil deeds.

I’ve lived long enough to remember a lot of evil. Some of it wasn’t exposed until years later, but sometimes it was done in the light and discovered quickly. I’m thinking of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, for instance. I was not a supporter of JFK, but his murder was indeed evil. What we need to remember, though, is that the planning and working out of the details was done in secret. There are still theories out there, never proven, about who was really behind his death. Lee Harvey Oswald was the one who pulled the trigger, but we are still “in the dark” about who was behind the entire plan.

There are other examples, but this post is not for the purpose of bringing any more attention to the perpetrators of evil.

My point is that we all–even those who claim to be Christians—are guilty of hiding our sins under the cover of darkness. Or, as is true of some things that used to be considered crimes, we legalize them so we don’t have to hide any more. What we forget is that when sin becomes legal, we lose just a little bit more of our conscience as a nation.

What do I mean? Well, I remember a particular western TV program that my dad loved. But one night, one of the characters used a four-letter word. Dad got up and switched off the TV (no remote controls yet–this was in the early 60’s) and we never watched that show again. There was a lot of pushback from viewers, but it didn’t matter. The choice had been made that the show should be more “realistic.” And a chip of good moral conscience in our nation broke off and was crushed.

Now, you can scarcely find a TV program or a movie that isn’t full of profanity, and the F-Bomb has become the only adjective that some people know. And it all started in the darkness of some editing room when a producer or director or editor decided not to cut the language out.

What sins do Christians hide under cover of darkness?

Pornography. Adultery. Reading material that is impure and poisonous. I don’t really think I need to go on. So much of it has to do with sexuality, which is what Satan first poisoned when he tempted Eve, then Adam, to disobey God. The very first thing they noticed after that moment of disobedience was that they were naked. It had never concerned them before. So they stitched together some fig leaves to cover themselves, and they tried to hide from God as the evening twilight fell.

It didn’t work then, and it doesn’t work now. A day of reckoning will come, in which every one of us will answer to God for what we have tried to hide under cover of darkness.

The good news is v. 21. When we do that which is right and good, we have no need to hide. We can live outside of the darkness, and walk in the Light, because He is the Light.

Some people feel that living such a goody-goody life is boring.

I have never found God to be boring.

I have, however, found that to knowingly choose to hide in darkness leaves me feeling ashamed and as if I need a bath.

Walk in the Light. You’ll never regret making a choice that you can do in the light.