In most of our homes, a small miracle happens – with the flip of a switch, light fills a dark room.
Now, suppose it’s high noon on a bright, sunny day. Try to imagine a reverse system, toggle the switch and the room becomes dark.
Can’t happen, right? 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 a lot of what passes for current public discourse and debate is basically a series of personal attacks designed to diminish or extinguish others’ lights. Physical violence, bullying, name-calling, threats…none of it adds one bit of light, it only makes the entire world darker.
Blowing out the other guy’s candle can’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? Don’t ask me. I’m not that smart. But I do know this.
It’s not our job to run around turning off the lights.
(Based on a post from September, 2015)