light and darkness

My dad used to say, “Nothing good happens after midnight.” He’d say that when we were discussing my curfew, so I don’t think he was making any grand metaphysical statements, but regardless how narrow the scope of his argument, it captured a core truth. Bad things happen in the dark because bad people don’t like to be seen.

The John used darkness and light as a major theme in his letters, starting right away in 1 John 1:5-7: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

I sometimes think of God as a flame. Close to him there is light and warmth, but the farther you walk from the fire, the more shadows there are. Eventually you move out of the light and into the darkness where no one can see you.

But here’s the thing: you can’t be in the darkness and be in the light. You have to choose either the fire or the dark. In the same way, if you metaphorically live your life in the darkness, you can’t claim to be a child of the light. If you shun the firelight and love the shadow, that reveals what you really are.

That’s because evil cannot exist where God is, just as bright light drives away darkness. In fact, darkness isn’t actually a thing by itself; darkness is just the absence of light. Anywhere light goes, darkness recedes. Darkness has no power whatsoever against light.

That’s really cool, for this reason: even a small candle, like I am compared to God, pushes back the darkness. When I’m close to God there is no darkness at all. When I enter someone else’s darkness, even my little bit of reflected God-light is enough to start pushing the evil back.

Light and dark are absolute opposites, which is why no matter what we say, our deeds show our true selves. True Christians are drawn close to the light; anyone who is drawn to the dark therefore is lying if he claims to be a Christian.

So the key is to make my actions and my affinities, the things I’m attracted to, prove my claims to be a Jesus-follower. And if that’s hard, I’d better start digging into why.