It's Dark Out There, Someone Turn on the Light

[HKHaugan]

It’s Dark Out There, Someone Turn on the Light 

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (Jn.8:12).” 

There can’t be anything more obvious than the fact that everything we do is motivated by what we can’t see. The whole process of our physical existence is run by ideas, emotions and beliefs. The very nature of existence is unseen, invisible and immeasurable; its order, energy, power and design. To illustrate this, I will use underlined words that describe the invisible process: When approaching physical existence, it is the invisible human mind that seeks to understand it. It is the human heart that wants to know how to manage not only the seen elements but who runs it. It is the human spirit that is motivated to act.

 The very use of words, sounds to communicate inner invisible meaning, indicates the process of communication, the desire and need to communicate, they’re all invisible. This leads us to the logical and ultimately challenging personal question, the question only our heart can deal with---‘Who do you trust to be your guide in the invisible dimension?’ Everyone is born spiritually blind. The ‘white cane’ of self is limited to chance. Chance is the precipice of choice. That precipice always starts with fear and pride. The unseen world is dark; full of holes, walls, barricades and cliffs. Inevitably you will run into one of them. Yes, who do you trust at the brink of chance and choice ‘in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14)?

 No matter what we talk about, write about or take action on, it is an invisible process that motivates us. The very fact of reading what you are reading here will wind up mentally processed based on attitude, desire, belief, emotion and pondering; all invisible. Most of all it is the moral aspects of all this, ‘good vs. evil’ that take us deeper into choice and decision, making it a spiritual issue.

 Before we even begin to process anything, we are ‘in the dark’ until we evaluate, consider options and make a conclusion. We are faced with this bottom-line-stark-reality, we are imperfect, we are ‘in the dark.” If we were perfect, we’d never have to be educated, evaluate, ponder, make choices, seek other’s opinion and counsel. We wouldn’t be looking for the best way to do something or desire to get better or make better choices. We would automatically do everything right. But we’re not perfect so to whom do we turn to learn how to be right? At a group meeting recently someone made this remark, “Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurred to God?”

 This led me to consider other similar ideas like, “Did God ever ponder before making the right decision?” “Did God have options about whether or not to send His Son to save us?” As one preacher said, “God didn’t have Alternative Plans A, B and C. Jesus was the plan.” We are ‘in the dark’ until we have the perfect Jesus to come to our aid. This is why we are in the dark until we have Jesus the perfect One who by nature was and is automatically right.

 Hopefully our personal process will begin with Jesus. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (Jn.8:12).” If we want to know how that works, we see what Scripture says about us. We are images of God (Gen.1:26). We have a mind, a heart and a spirit. Before Jesus, each of each of us is ‘in the dark.’ We are alone, we are imperfect, and the cause is sin. Sin is the darkness breeding our imperfection, our fear, our pride and our inner struggle to make sense out of being; to find meaning, an identity and acceptance in self and among others.

 But John says this, “In Him was life and that life was the light of men (Jn.1;4).” Jesus is the light for the mind, light for the heart and light for the spirit. But it isn’t just light, it is spiritual light of a kind that let’s the mind say, “Oh, now I see what you mean.” Then the heart responds with a new attitude that wants to be like Jesus and the spirit motivated to act in grace and love wherever a believer is. The new attitude comes from the new life which is a life of insight.

 Insight is the key. The insight of Jesus, His gift to us.

 Jesus brings insight, the ability to see spiritually. You see the self within. You are an image of God and not only an image but a child, a child of God. Then you see others in a new way as images of God and open to the condition of their heart. It’s an insight that challenges past attitudes and replaces them with the one attitude of Jesus. It’s an insight that wants to accept and love other people. It’s insight for the spirit to discern a condition and then respond based on God’s Word. That insight is the gift of life, eternal life. It’s who you believe, who you trust and who you have faith in to act in the unseen valley of decision. Jesus is the Light Person. He believed His Father, trusted His Father and had faith to act for His Father.

 God’s life in Jesus is the insight He displayed when He met people and knew what was on their mind (Jn.2:24, Mt.9:4). His insight was His life seen in action. It was the way He talked to the Pharisees, the woman at the well in Samaria, the way He responded to Mary and Martha. It was the way He felt when He heard about the death of Lazarus, when He grieved over Jerusalem. Also, He felt joy when His disciples returned happily successful from a mission He had sent them on (Lk.10:21). He felt joy right after the Last Supper and shared that with His disciples (Jn.15:11). Whenever the disciples were around Jesus they knew within the effect He had upon them. He had given them insight that He was not only their Messiah, their Savior but their Lord, their God and the One God through whom all things came into being (Jn.1:41-45).

 Insight is a non-verbal experience that hits the mind, the heart and the spirit in us. Insight is spiritual. It happens when the Holy Spirit brings the thought, the words of Jesus into a situation that needs His touch. It happens when you go to a movie, read a book, see a play or have a sudden experience of depth when scenery becomes a spiritual reality beyond what you physically see. Insight is relational when you run into someone in need and you stop, find out what’s going on and have a way to respond. It’s what happens when you realize you were the only one who could do what was done in the moment a challenge came. It’s the parallels between what you experience around you and the events in Scripture. It can happen when you are writing a letter and an idea or image comes into your mind that coincides with something in the life of Jesus.

 When insight happens it will lead to an’ outsight,’ that is, it will cause you to see things in a spiritual way that leads to action, like overcoming a broken relationship, witnessing to someone you have been afraid to talk to, starting a ministry that’s needed in a congregation or a mission to a people who need to hear about the Lord. Outsight is what you see when an insight is followed. Insight starts with belief for the mind, trust for the heart and faith for the spirit to act. Outsight is the result.

 Insight is the Light of the world, Jesus, in action. Light is the context for the Gospel of John. It is a major theme opening our understanding of the life Jesus brings to us. When you have a spiritual insight, you are experiencing the life of Jesus. When insight becomes outsight, when the water becomes wine, when two fish and five loaves feed 5000 and 12 baskets are left over, what they mean for you is life. It’s then you are in Christ and in Christ you become the light of the world (Mt.5:14). Shine, shine, shine!