Everything was created through him;
nothing not one thing!
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
John 1:3–5 (MSG)
It’s frustrating to see just how close darkness hangs around when we so sincerely desire and pray that the Lord would shine His light in our lives.
You can be excessively patient with people on Monday, and come Tuesday, they are instantly on your nerves. You can want all of God’s will in one moment, and suddenly you turn around and want to avoid most—if not all—of His will the next moment. You can be so powerfully vision-oriented one week and then feel so narrowly constricted the next week. You can be high on possibilities in one conversation, and then feel hopelessly blocked in another. You can exude boundless energy in one season and feel completely exhausted in the next. You can be excited when you wake up in the morning, and as soon as you get to work, you are ready for the day to end.
If that describes you, here’s the good news that I see in the first chapter of John: There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.
IYou see, our faith is not a surrender to a light that completely and permanently dispels darkness—at least not this side of heaven. Our faith is a surrender to a light that shines in a darkness that is also present in our lives.
We want a life where light shines without any darkness being able to hang around, but the truth of our lives is this: Jesus is in your life to shine the light of His presence in your darkness because the dark part of who you are is still present.
Paul said that he had to surrender to daily crucifixion. He felt so trapped by the darkness in his life that he didn’t just need strength or courage. He said he needed to be delivered from the darkness, and that only Jesus could deliver him.
You will not, for the remainder of the span of your human existence on earth, experience the total eradication of darkness in your life. But know this: Jesus can shine the light of His presence in your life until darkness will not dominate.
