Where’s the darkest place you’ve ever been? The darkest place I’ve ever been was inside a cave. I was touring a cave, and when we were deep underground, the tour guide had everyone turn off their flashlights. Then he turned off the lights, and we were plunged into total darkness. If you’ve ever been in a cave, then you know what I mean.
Some caves are spectacular with huge, spacious chambers adorned with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites rising from the floor. Caves also have a variety of animal life. The most well-known cave dweller is the bat. Other cave creatures include salamanders, crickets, and spiders. Caves that have underground pools and rivers may have freshwater shrimp, crayfish, and minnows. Many of these cave creatures are blind because they live in a world of total darkness. They are called ‘troglobites’. A troglobite is an animal that spends its entire existence living in a cave. They never come out of the darkness and never experience the light. They live in a permanent “dark zone”.
Some subterranean creatures are trogloxenes. A trogloxene only spends part of its life in a cave. Bats are trogloxenes. They sleep in the cave during the day then go outside at night to search for food. There are also troglophiles. A troglophile can live outside the darkness of the cave, but they prefer to live in darkness. Troglophiles are like the person in Simon and Garfunkel’s song, Hello Darkness, My Old Friend.
As fascinating as caves can be, I don’t think any of us would want to live in a cave. We may be fascinated by dark, subterranean places, but most people prefer to live in the daylight and breathe the fresh air of open spaces. We prefer to live in the sunlight because that’s the way God created us. God created us to live in the light.
But then people rebelled against God. And ever since our rebellion, we’ve been trying to hide from God and hide from the light. The Bible says, “Men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed (John 3:19-20).”
People who hide from the light are photophobic. They fear of the light. They fear the light because they’re afraid of God. The book of Revelation says that when Jesus returns, people will hide “themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.” But we can’t hide from God.
Since we can’t hide from God, we should come out of the darkness. How do we escape the darkness. We can escape the darkness by coming to Jesus. Jesus says: “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).” God wants us to be photophilic. A photophile is someone who loves the light. The Bible says, “He who practices the truth comes to the Light.”
The Bible describes a person who has escaped the darkness and come into the light this way: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:8-11).”
So let me encourage you to live your life in the light of Jesus. Let the light of Jesus shine into your heart and mind so that goodness, righteousness, and truth will flow in you and through you so that your light will shine for all to see.
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