Toward the Sunrise

This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is. (John 3:20-21)

A crisis is a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined - some call this a turning point. It can represent a condition of instability or danger, leading to a decisive change - not always for the best. Equally so, it can represent one of those events where there is a lot of dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life - leaving one to sort out the pieces when all is said and done. When a person is not interested in pleasing God, their entire life may seem like one crisis right after another - barely bailing out of one and stepping into another. Darkness is like that - you stumble around a lot, not sure of where you are going, and doing a pretty poor job of avoiding all the obstacles in your path.

We can observe all manner of folk around us who are 'addicted to denial and illusion' - believing whatever the 'fad of the day' is at the moment. Their illusions are fed by the media - their denial is spurred on by all manner of imaginary belief formed on nothing more than opinion. They could be what some refer to as 'naysayers' - never having a good word to say about anything. It is quite possible they are well enough educated, just 'dumb' where it comes to the things we call 'spiritual'. They need to understand, or they will not believe, but spiritual things are not always easily understood. What a way to go through life! I don't want to see the dark side of things, much less experience them! I want the light to show me how to live, where my thoughts aren't quite right, and what choices I should make. I don't want to live from one crisis to another - how about you?

When you reject light, you are left 'running for the darkness'. I do just the opposite - I run for the light, fleeing the darkness whenever I can. I like to walk early in the morning as the sun is coming up, but as the fall and winter season is upon us, the sunrise comes a wee bit later each new day. That means I may start my walk in a bit of darkness, but I head toward the sunrise so the light will be upon me, leading my steps as I go. It is like that when we say 'yes' to Jesus - we leave darkness behind and begin to walk into the light. We begin to see our path illuminated by that 'spiritual light' and as we take each step, it is more certain, solid, and taken with conviction. If I ever take a step that is without conviction, I usually know it is away from the light, not toward it! Just sayin!