Do you put people into categories of two? For instance, do you label a devout Christian as a “believer” and one who is not a Christian as an “unbeliever.” Also, do you sometimes describe a person who believes in God as “spiritual”, then describe a person who doesn’t believe in God as “secular.” If you do, and this is your spiritual view of someone, then you are left saying that the wickedness around you is due to people being unbelievers with a secular outlook on life. While such double categories can be helpful in some ways, they don’t give us a deep spiritual understanding of people, or our selves. Only our Lord Jesus can open our eyes to see what is really going on in peoples’ hearts.
Jesus deepens our understanding with his words recorded in John 12.46: I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. Our Lord knew that there were Jews abiding in spiritual darkness. He came as a spiritual light to bring them out of their darkness. The Apostle Paul realized that he and many Gentiles had been brought out from spiritual darkness into the light of Christ’s kingdom. Paul explained this to the new Christians at Colosse: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son… Colossians 1.13
When we put together John 12.46 and Colossians 1.13, we realize that our Lord brings people who are in darkness into His kingdom which is full of light. This helps us understand that there is no such thing as spiritual neutrality. Every human being lives in one of these two spiritual places: the kingdom of darkness ruled by the devil or the kingdom of light ruled by our Lord Jesus.
The great tragedy of our day is that many people in America are in the kingdom of darkness. No wonder our nation is in chaos!
{ The next post will be: What Living in Darkness Means }
To Make Straight Paths 