“In The Dark”

 While attending the recent GA District Nazarene Assembly something unusual happened. As we gathered on that Wednesday night to worship and hear our new District Superintendent’s first report, the electricity went out. It wasn’t just the church building that we were in but entire city blocks were without power. We sat there in the darkness for a little while then some spontaneous praise singing broke out. Pretty soon we were having a great worship experience even though there was no power, no lights, and no air conditioning.
          As this was occurring, I used my flashlight on my phone to look around to a man who was blind that was sitting a little bit behind me. He was singing and praising the Lord with everyone else. The thought occurred to me that the power outage with the lights being off wasn’t a problem for him because he was always in the dark. For a period of time, we were all in what his world is like every day.
          The idea that struck me was that every day, all over the world there are people who are spiritually blind without the light of God’s love for them. For them every day is another day of darkness. Physically they see the light of the sun or electric lights but in their heart and soul they are in the darkness of sin. These people think that the darkness is normal so they stumble around in it without ever knowing the true joy of the light of Jesus and His Word.
          Jesus talked a lot about walking in the darkness versus walking in the light. He said that He was the light of the world. And that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. I John 1:6-7 tells us – “If we say we have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”
          It is a bad thing to be blind and not be in the light. It is even worse to say that you are in the light that God provides yet still be in the darkness of sin. We lie to ourselves and everyone else around us. But we don’t fool God who is the perfect light. It is bad enough to be in the dark but to choose to stay in the dark after the light has been revealed to you has to be one of the worst things imaginable. So my prayer is that a lost person will realize that they are in darkness and then choose the true light of the world – Jesus.
​In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs