Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
In most of our homes, you simply flip a switch and light fills a dark room. Pretty incredible, really. Let There Be Light!
Now follow me in a thought experiment. Imagine it’s high noon on a bright, sunny day. Could someone invent a “dark bulb” so we could flip a switch and the room would suddenly be dark?
Nope. You can’t pump dark into a room when light’s present, because darkness isn’t a real thing. It’s only the absence of a thing.
The only way to make a room dark is to eliminate the light.
It’s such an obvious truth that it sounds a bit silly to even talk about it. But take a hard look at a lot of what passes for current public discourse and debate. Basically, it’s a series of personal attacks designed to diminish or extinguish others’ lights.
Blowing out the other guy’s candle won’t make yours burn any brighter
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15)
We’re supposed to add light, not eliminate it. We need to spend our time taking the light of Jesus into the dark corners.
Want to eliminate racism? Eradicate poverty? Stop human trafficking? Unify the church?
Don’t ask me. I’m not that smart. But I do know this.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred. Only love can do that.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It’s not our job to run around turning off the lights.
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