Light overcomes darkness

Do you carry a flashlight? If you have a smartphone, you likely have an application that serves as a flashlight. I prefer to carry a dedicated flashlight that runs on a AAA battery. Did you realize police officers always carry a flashlight? One of the reasons is a lot of bad things happen in low-light situations. Criminals prefer to operate under the cover of darkness.

What like about carrying a flash light is the ability to see clearly. If you are in the dark, you cannot identify threats such as the leg of a table, or a Lego left in the middle of the floor -- a clear and present danger to bare feet. I have found myself happy to have a flashlight in my pocket on many occasions when the power has gone out or when something has fallen under the couch. Light literally removes darkness and allows us to see clearly. For this reason, light and darkness are used metaphorically in the Bible.

Light represents goodness, morality and purity while darkness represents evil, immorality and deception. Just as crime often occurs at night, people prefer to do evil covertly. We are often surprised by those who commit unlawful acts in "broad daylight." In John 3:19-21, we see an explanation:

"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Today we have many people who are attempting to expose societal evils, while at the same time they are embracing lifestyles the Bible identifies as sinful. So often we try to apply Scripture to other people and not to ourselves. We are offended by other's sin, but defensive of our own. If you want to imitate Jesus, you must walk (live) in the light, and not darkness.

1 John 1:6-7 puts it this way, "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." Christians believe Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died on the cross as the sacrificial lamb of God to atone for our sin. Easter is a celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Our Lord conquered sin and death for us. We have victory in Jesus.

There is no darkness in the light. Have you seen the shadow of a lit match? What is interesting is you see the shadow of your hand and the matchstick, but the flame has no shadow. 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." In other words, God is holy and not sinful. He is not the author of sin nor does he condone sin. Scripture says God's wrath is against sin. It is important to remember God loves us and does not want to see us destroy ourselves. We read in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If you are going through a dark time emotionally, physically, or spiritually, remember, "Joy comes in the morning." See Psalm 30:5.

John 1:5 says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Evil will not ultimately triumph over good. God is in control and Judgment Day is coming. Let the light of Jesus shine on you. This Easter season remember, there was total darkness on Good Friday. Then on Sunday morning Jesus, who is the light of the world, rose from the tomb. The Bible reassures us that good will conquer evil just as light overcomes darkness.