There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. [John 3:18-20 (NLT)]
Occasionally, I’ll spot a partially open moonflower (Ipomoea alba) during an early morning walk at the park. While the Moonflower’s cousin the Morning Glory opens wide to welcome the sunlight, the Moonflower prefers darkness. It’s only when the sun sets that it opens to a large trumpet-shaped bloom. Rather than competing during the day with brightly colored flowers for pollinators like bees and butterflies, Moonflowers enjoy pollinators like bats and moths at night. As the morning sun rises, the Moonflower again rejects the light and rolls up into itself.
The Moonflower’s rejection of the sun reminds me of those people who, preferring darkness, reject Jesus, the light of the world. Some people choose the dark because they don’t know or understand God’s word or doubt its authenticity. At best, they may think of Scripture as a guide to good living and, at worst, a work of fiction along the lines of The Odyssey and The Iliad. Others may reject the light because of painful personal experiences with the church, the hypocrisy they’ve seen in people claiming to be Christ’s followers, or the church’s failures regarding abuse, morality, prejudice, and righting wrongs.
While a Moonflower can never become a Morning Glory in my garden, they can in God’s! An unbeliever can become a believer and glory in the light of Christ. But, for that to happen, we must do a better job of sharing the light of the Lord and being Christ-like in all we do. As God’s gardeners, if we gently correct misunderstandings and misconceptions and witness Jesus in our words and actions, some of those choosing darkness may turn to God’s light.
Nevertheless, while some people may have their reasons for rejecting the light, I suspect many reject Jesus simply because (like a Moonflower) they prefer the darkness to the light. While they might even know the truth of Christianity, they’re like the Jews who believed in Jesus but, fearful of the Pharisees, wouldn’t admit it and remained in the darkness. John tells us they “loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” [12:43] Perhaps, like the rich man who walked away from Jesus because he valued his earthly possessions more than eternal life, they find the ideas of sacrifice, selflessness, humility, submission, righteousness, repentance, or forgiveness to be stumbling blocks. The cost of discipleship, of carrying their own cross and following Christ—is too great. Jesus may stand at the door and knock, but it’s up to each person to decide whether to open it! Sadly, not everyone will.
The issue is now clear. It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side. [G.K. Chesterton]
After Israel accepted the Lord’s Covenant, Moses returned to the base of Mt. Sinai with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. It was then that every one of those men gazed upon the God of Israel from afar and ate a covenant meal in His presence. Before Moses departed to climb up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, he entrusted the Israelites to Aaron and the elders who then went back to their camp. Moses, accompanied by his servant/apprentice Joshua, climbed a short way up the mountain and a cloud covered it. The two men made camp and stayed there for the next six days. On the seventh day, God called to Moses from within the cloud and the Israelites’ leader disappeared into the mist.
Built by her husband’s grandfather in the 1920s, my friend’s house was filled with much of the original furniture. Many pieces (like the restored grand piano) were valuable antiques but decades of use had taken their toll on others. Although the beautiful little mahogany side chair looked solid, a note saying “Broken—do not use” rested on it. Pretty as it was, the chair was useless and an invitation to disaster. Should the warning go unnoticed, some unknowing person could end up sprawled on the floor surrounded by splintered wood.
Jeremiah 29 consists of two letters written by the prophet to the exiles in Babylon. The first (29:1-28) was sent to the recently deported elders, priests, and prophets as well as to King Jehoiachin, his mother, and the officials, craftsmen, and artisans who’d been taken as Nebuchadnezzar’s captives several years earlier. Countering the message of the false prophets promising a quick return to Jerusalem from Babylon, Jeremiah bluntly told the exiles that Israel’s captivity would last seventy years. This was unwelcome news and, preferring to believe comforting lies rather than the painful truth, people accused Jeremiah of being crazy and a false prophet. The second letter in this chapter addresses one of his accusers.
After feeding a multitude with little more than a handful of food, Jesus sent the disciples across the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida. He stayed behind to send the people home and then, exhausted, went into the mountains to pray. During the fourth watch (somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 AM), Jesus looked out at the water and saw that the disciples were struggling against the wind and waves to keep the boat on course. Seeing their distress, he walked on the water toward them. Seeing Him walking on water, they thought Him a ghost and cried out in terror. Phantoms of the night were said to bring disaster and it was thought that the last thing a boatman saw before drowning in Galilee was a ghost on the water! It’s no wonder they were frightened at first.
When I first started reading the psalms, I suspected David might have been bi-polar—his highs seemed so high and his lows so very low; now I understand that he was just being truthful. In his psalms, David unabashedly expressed his deepest feelings to God. Pouring out his soul, he openly shared his emotions—whether anger, disappointment, sorrow, regret, shame, joy, love, fear, doubt, or even his desire for vengeance upon his enemies. No matter how troubled he was, David never was afraid to speak from his heart. I’m not sure we are willing to be as vulnerable and straightforward in our prayers as was David.
