I Love the Darkness

Alright, so I’m kind of in my passionate irritated-at-the-body-of-Christ mode. I could be off on this, so seek the Lord and NEVER (I mean NEVER EVER) solely take my word for it, because by jove I am one sinful human that you should never believe without weighing against what God’s word says along with the leading of the Holy Spirit… I can have false tendencies because I was born of flesh and blood. Yet, I also have been redeemed and His image deposited in me, born-again – so I can only prayerfully hope that He shines and wins in me despite the battle that wages between flesh and spirit!

That clause now being in place… let me just get something off of my chest before I implode!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Familiar verse, isn’t it? Yes, it’s one we all know and can recite to any passerby. BUT! I’m finding that that fact may be slightly careless on our part… BECAUSE, I am seeing the truth and heart-wrenching reality of this verse in context. It’s so convicting it’s brutally intense!

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” – John 3:17-18

I haven’t fully reached my point yet, but MAN is that part intense as well… and humbling beyond all reasoning. WE ARE NOT CONDEMNED because by the glorious mercy of a most pure and holy God who sent His only Son into the world to shed His pure and innocent blood for each one of us… we could choose to believe in Him and have eternal life and be saved.

The incredible thing that lights the fire in my heart on this blog though is this:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” – John 3:19-21

GEEZ, I can hardly wrap my brain around something that intense…

Interesting the verse uses the word “verdict”… that’s totally something that reminds me of a lawsuit – judge, jury, lawyers, guilty/unguilty defendant… DEFENDANT!

In this setting we are the defendant, correct? The fact… light has come into the world… which from the verses above we know is Jesus, God’s one and only Son. But, the case being this… we loved darkness instead of light. And because our deeds were evil, we will not come into the light for FEAR that our deeds will be exposed. So we’re in the defendant chair… not wanting our evil deeds from loving the darkness to be exposed.

How often do we attempt to defend our own case? We get completely defensive, we justify our mis-deed… because shoot, it’s SCARY (FEAR) to be exposed… and man we just LOVE the darkness, it makes us feel good…

We don’t like to admit this raw exposing reality – “YES, I LOVE THE DARKNESS! That’s why my deeds are evil… and THAT’S WHY I’M STANDING HERE AS THE DEFENDANT worthy of the charge GUILTY!”

Frightening!

Rather than admit that though… we do this run around in our nature and our brains to try to justify why our sins ‘aren’t THAT bad’. We then put on pseudo-Jesus, because we want to feel good about ourselves.

Why not just realize we deserve the charge GUILTY… that we love the darkness because we prefer the evil deeds… repent and live by the TRUTH, instead of trying to defend and justify, spin our sins AS IF we shouldn’t be standing there for a verdict.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

If we’re living by the truth, coming into the light, which is Jesus – then people can plainly see what God has done for us by sending His one and only Son to die in our place. So that the humbling blood of the lamb is what covers us and the verdict is NOT-GUILTY by virtue of Jesus Christ. Not by our own defending or justifying!

I’m not sure if any of this connected or made sense, I just wrote it in a frenzy because it needs to hit my heart deep… and I was reminded of it. Conviction stirring intense in my heart by the grace of God.

Be exposed. Jesus was for you. Stop trying to live life covering up as if you don’t love the darkness. Repent that you DO actually love the darkness and you need a LIGHT and to live in the truth (Jesus!) to be washed clean.

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