turn off the dark

Turning Off the Dark

by Andy Comer

 

Recently, my three-year-old daughter wanted to play with a certain toy, but her hesitance to retrieve it left me puzzled. I didn’t understand why she was unwilling to walk into her dark room to get what she desired. Nervously gathering her thoughts, she cautiously approached me on the couch and said, “Daddy, can you turn off the dark?”

Smiling at her child-like perspective, I firmly grasped her hand as we walked to her bedroom and turned on the light.

It’s often the simple moments that have the most powerful effect on you.

It was in that moment God reminded me of one simple truth. The only way to turn off the dark is to turn on the light.

The only way to turn off the dark is to turn on the light. Click To Tweet

We live in a dark world. It seems like every day there is another headline about some evil, dark event taking place somewhere in the world. And don’t think for a second darkness is always somewhere else thousands of miles away. Darkness also resides in the hurting people around us. Someone you know is going through a divorce. Someone you know is struggling with cancer. Someone you know is fighting addiction.

The only way to turn off the dark is to turn on the light.

Here are a few practical ways to do just that.

1. Follow closely behind Jesus. 

My child was afraid to walk into her bedroom alone, but once she tightly gripped my hand she was no longer afraid of the dark. Relationships tend to do that. They give us courage to face the things we cannot face alone.

Relationships give us the courage to face the things we cannot face alone. Click To Tweet

Notice what Jesus tells us about following Him. “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12).

We cannot expect to walk daily in the Light if we aren’t willing to walk daily with the Light of the world.

2. Be the Light God made you to be. 

Read another statement Jesus makes about the light of the world. “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

Did you notice what Jesus did not say? He didn’t say, “you have the light,” or “you are becoming the light.” He said, “You ARE the light!)

That’s right! If you are a follower of Jesus then you are the light of the world. Be the light God made you to be! Shine brightly not dimly; shine daily not occasionally; and shine like a beacon in the darkness.

3. Hang out with other lights. 

It might be tempting to walk bravely in the darkness all alone to shine your light, but 1 John reminds us of our need to hang out with other lights.

“…if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7).

As we follow closely behind Jesus, there is a fellowship we experience with other light-bearers. You and I weren’t created to be an island. We were created for relationships. We desperately need to the encouragement and comfort that comes by planting ourselves in a body of believers called the Church.

Imagine the difference we could make when we decide together to “turn off the dark!”