Afraid of the Dark
Question: Am I afraid of the dark, what’s in it, or both? Or maybe, I’m not really afraid of the dark at all? I have no need to be afraid of the dark or what is ‘lurking in it’, but I want light to explode to the people I live on earth with. Allow me to explain.
I’m not literally talking about the darkness many kids (and even adults) experience when they hide under the covers at night to escape the fear of the horror movie they just watched. However, fear of physical darkness is a good example. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says to His followers, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” As followers of Christ, we are the light people are going to see. Jesus chose you. Jesus chose me.
I heard a message the other night at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries on campus about Christians being the light. The conclusion was to think about our priorities: where does God stand? If He isn’t my priority, I’m not going to see much light, and I certainly won’t be shining like I could be if I were following Jesus with everything I have. Second was that we need to be shining God’s light around campus. We were placed there for a reason. So, what is prevailing on earth… light or darkness?
Before the lightbulb, people used sources of fire, and before that, they used the sun. Screwing a lightbulb into a light fixture seems like an obvious thing to do if we want to see in a dark place. The electrical wiring in the fixture is the source for the light shining through the bulb. Without the lightbulb being embedded into the source, the bulb is not going to give off any light. It’s without purpose. God has shown me that He is our electrical wiring. He is the glory in our lives. We don’t shine without Him, and when we’re not in sync with Him, what purpose are we trying to achieve?
A table lamp, as you may guess, goes on a table. As Christians, we sometimes hide that lamp under the bed more than we let it shine on the table. Luke 8:16 uses this example to show that the way to shine Jesus’ light is to display it on its’ proper spot — where people can see. Why would we want to hide the light Jesus has instilled in us?
There are several factors we let stand in the way. Fear of not knowing what to say, fear of rejection, fear of whether it’s the right time or not, and fear that with me being different people will not like me anymore. Sharing Christ is not the norm in this world, so asking someone to go against the current is, well, going AGAINST the current. We don’t want to cause conflict, and we certainly want to make friends, not lose them. We also want to please our Savior. Whether you’re shining Jesus or not, not everyone is going to like everything you do. Both being liked and loving Jesus will not always work, y’all.
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” –Galatians 1:10
Tough medicine, right here. Pleasing people feels great, but when we please God above people, what joy fills the soul knowing we did what blesses our Savior. This is not to say that making people happy is a bad thing — it’s not, unless it is not what God wants.
What about the fear of missing out (FOMO)? The Bible says not to fear 365 times. That’s once a day, every day. So, go on fearless, and be aware that this blessing to share Christ to a world of unbelievers is the life to live. If I refuse to share Christ to someone, I will be missing out on the opportunity to meet someone awesome and show them Jesus-love, and he/she will be missing out from hearing and seeing it. I’m not encouraging you to develop FOMO. I’m encouraging you to be encouraged and disciplined to seize every opportunity the Lord offers you to shine His light. I say disciplined because motivation means having the ‘want to’ to do something. We are not going to always feel like sharing Christ, but when we discipline ourselves, with the Lord’s guiding, we will be so satisfied knowing we took the opportunity. Don’t make being a Christian a religious job. Jesus wants you to be free and live in love, not religion. You will (like I have done) get tired if you try to handle every situation on your own and beat yourself up when you don’t achieve perfection. Jesus is perfect. He wants us to improve and strive to become more and more like Him. He knows we won’t reach perfection on earth. Make shining His light your daily attitude, abandon self, and put on Christ. Smile, wave, serve, converse, and be free while living a life of obedience to God. Once you allow God to take over, the radiance shining through you will be contagious. It will explode into a thousand little emoji smiley faces. People may not verbalize that they love the way you’re living, but they want it too because people want the fulfillment of contentment and love. We’ll go completely badly bonkers without Him.
“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord to send out workers into his harvest field.’” –Matthew 9:37
“And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” –Isaiah 6:8
“Jesus, shine in and through me.”
So, are we afraid of the dark? No, the darkness is afraid of us! Everybody start letting Jesus shine through ‘em, and people will be saying, “Dark, what’s that?”
#CometotheLightside;wehaveJesus!
