1 John 1:6-7
If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Imagine never using your electricity. Every night, as darkness falls, you stumbled around and fumble to find your way from room to room. You have a television or two, but you never turn them on. You have a refrigerator, but it’s empty, because you won’t plug it in and use the needed power to cool your food. You don’t use your phone, because you won’t charge it, and the battery ran down a long time ago. You take cold baths and showers, get dressed in relative darkness or only by daylight, and you wash and rinse your clothes in a sink or bathtub. You can’t cook most of your food, because pretty much every appliance you own runs on electricity, and you’re not “plugged in”. Your electric bill is paid… you have electrical power available...… but you refuse to use it!
Sounds pretty nutty, doesn’t it? Yet this is exactly what countless people do every single day with their Christian faith. They have the power of God available… Jesus Christ bought and paid for their sins on Calvary… and they will tell you in a heartbeat that they have a relationship with God. Still, they refuse to turn on the power and fumble around in the darkness. We are all guilty of this at one time or another. There are times when each of us fails to fully avail ourselves of the power of God in our lives… to call on Him to help us with a particular situation or challenge. There are times when we claim we live for God, but our actions and behaviors indicate otherwise. But for some, this is a way of life that is akin to living in a home with electricity… and never using it.
I am always amazed when I encounter someone who is negative, critical, pessimistic, always angry at someone or about something – in a nutshell, a total grump… yet they never miss a church service or a Bible study. They are the first to claim the name of Jesus and declare that they love the LORD. They will say, “Oh, I can’t do such-and-such, because we have Wednesday night prayer meeting,” or “Our church is sponsoring a mission trip, and I have to help with the fundraiser.” Their entire life appears to a paradox… if not an outright lie. They stumble around in the darkness and don’t turn on the light! The “electricity” is there… they just aren’t utilizing it! You may know people like this… and maybe you are one of them - at least part of the time. I have to tell you, outside observers are not buying it when you claim to have an intimate relationship with God. In essence, it appears that those who behave this way are lying through their teeth, as the scripture says.
It is time to “turn on the light!” If you don’t have God’s power in your life… if you have not accepted Jesus Christ and received forgiveness for your sins, I urge you to do so. Tap into the power and light of God Almighty, and operate in His strength, love, grace and mercy. If you are a born-again Christian, yet you continue to stumble around and operate in untruth by not living what you claim, it is time to humble yourself before God and ask Him to help you make the necessary changes. We cannot be effective in our Christian discipleship if we stumble around in the darkness. We cannot demonstrate the power and love of God if we are operating in negativity, gossip, criticism, unkindness, defeatism, and downright evil. We cannot “talk the talk” and fail to “walk the walk". We don’t fool anyone. We’re lying through our teeth, and everyone knows it.
We have a choice to make. If we are going to accept God’s “electricity”, we have to use it. We have to turn on His light in our heart and let it shine for all to see. Will you choose to fumble in the dark… or have you plugged in to God’s power and turned on the light? Isn’t it time you did just that?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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