Loving the Darkness
This is Day 15 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.
"And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19.
My deeds are evil. That is why I keep them shrouded in darkness--so that no one will see them. A murderer kills in the dark. A thief steals in the dark. Darkness hides our crimes.
Of course, we don't always need literal darkness. We can simply keep our hearts darkened while pretending to walk in the light. We can be nice and friendly with a smile on our face, while having hearts as black as any demon.
This is where true darkness and evil comes from. Jesus tells us that, "out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." (Matt 15:19)
So it is our hearts that we keep concealed in darkness. When they are bathed in light we have to admit we are evil. We can no longer pretend to be good while secretly holding on to evil. And then we must actually stop being evil and start being good--truly good, not just pretending to be good.
This is hard. It's hard not to have wicked thoughts. It's hard to love everybody. It's hard to be forgiving. It's hard not to judge. It's hard not to gossip. It's hard to keep my eyes from wandering. It's hard to not envy. It's hard to be generous. It's hard to put others before myself. It's hard to think of myself as a servant of all. The darkness is so much easier. It's so much easier to pretend to love the light while really preferring the darkness. But the light will lead me to eternal life. Darkness will lead me to damnation. The road to destruction is wide and easy, and Jesus tells us that that's the route many of us will take. (Matt 7:13).
May God save us from ourselves and our own darkness.
R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Peter Puckett series, a Christian children's fantasy that explores what it means to know and love Christ through exciting adventures. His books and blog can be found at rcvanlandingham.com.