Out Of The Darkness

By Al Behel

 

    Many people live in darkness. Lonely...isolated...afraid. Never sure whether it is safe, of if they can face the light. Some suffer from the devastating emotional effects of serious mental impairments. Sometimes children will ask, “What’s wrong with me? Why do I act the way I do?” They are locked in a mind that even disturbs them.

    A young man thanked me for diagnosing him with Asperger’s Syndrome. Finally, his social and emotional difficulties made sense to his exceptionally bright, but troubled mind. Another young man came back years later just to say, “thank you for giving me my life back.” His brain had been derailed by drugs and he lived in his own prison. He had been freed of his demon.

    There is a greater darkness than that which is created by a disturbed mind. Sin darkens the soul and spirit and imprisons its victims in insidious and disastrous ways. Many people who live in their prisons have no concept of how dark the darkness really is. They have forgotten the light. They have acclimated to the shadows. Some are afraid of the light...or, maybe they have come to love the darkness because it hides their evil hearts and deeds.

    We don’t have to stay in darkness. God takes us out of the “dominion of darkness” and transfers us into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). Peter, who struggled with his own fears and anger issues, said God “called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9). Jesus came to destroy the power of the darkness. He is the Light who dispels the darkness (John 12:46)

    Those who come out of the darkness see things differently. They see others differently. They see sin differently. They see clearly the beauty of their world and the potential the Light reveals to them. In the Light they can truly love because they are loved. They can forgive because they have been forgiven. They can sing because they now see the glory of God. Jesus said it clearly, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12)

- Al Behel preaches for the Great Smoky Mountains Church of Christ in Pigeon Forge, TN. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://greatsmokymountainschurchofchrist.com/