What has happen to your Light?

 

2 Timothy 2:3

“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

I must put a disclaimer in the beginning; I have not, nor have the Christian American churches experienced real suffering, but get ready, it is coming!  It is not that I’m a prophet, nor have I looked into the tea leaves, but we have entered the time referred to in the book of Isaiah 5:20-21, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight!”  If you had been sleeping for the last 15 years and woke up this morning in this present darkness, you would be frightened at the hate for Christians and the Church.  But if you have not been asleep, you may be part of the problem, if you have been silent, if you have not stood-up and said, no matter what the cost my family and I will be light in this darkness. 

What has happened to us reminds me of a lesson taught to me as a young Christian:  I went to Mexico with Jack Archer to be part of a week-end with a pastor friend of Jack’s who was a missionary to this very poor church.  His name was pastor Joe, and after the service we came back to a town on the Mexican side of the border, and entered this very large restaurant.  We came out of bright sun light into almost total darkness and as we entered, I was not able to see anything, but after sitting at our table for a few minutes Pastor Joe asked this question, “Do you remember how dark it was when we walked out of the light, but the longer we sat in the dark, the more we became accustomed to the darkness, and that is what happens when Christians are around sin.  At first it is very ugly and evil, but the longer we stay around it, without being a light, the more it enters into our hearts.”

Many years later I learned that darkness is not something you can measure, and the smallest light will expel darkness.  So I must ask this question; If darkness is expelled with light, and yet today in our culture good is spoken of as evil, and evil as good, what has happen to your light?  The prophet Isaiah had this word of council to each of us who are vessels of the Lord’s, “Depart, depart, go out from there!  Touch no unclean thing!  Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.”  If you are part of Christ, examine yourself to make sure you are in fellowship with the Lord.  If you are beginning to suffer because you are being light, take heart in John 15:19 we read, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as it’s own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.” 

History always repeats itself, when men keep silent and pastors refuse to call sin, sin, darkness will have a foot hold in that church, in that community, and in that nation.  Ephesians 5:11, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”  If you have no understanding of what I’ve said about the darkness that has entered the Christian Church, stop and ask the God of all Creation to allow your eyes to see.  If you’re a pastor, ask the Lord to give you the boldness of Pastor Joe Wright.

“Pastor Joe Wright opened a new session of the Kansas House of Representatives on January 23, 1996 with the following prayer…Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our fore-fathers and called it enlightenment.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice