Are you afraid of the dark? Like a lot of children, when I was a child I did not like trying to go to sleep in a totally dark room. Long I would lie awake imagining the vicious monsters and cruel ghosts that were lurking unseen (or worse yet, barely seen) in the dark of my bedroom. Unidentified sounds added to the sinister nature of the dark. I would tell myself that it was just the wind, the refrigerator, the water pipes or the heating system. But was it? When you cannot see the source of the sound, or at least see enough to rule out some of the possible sources, it could be ANYTHING!
In those tender years, my terror could be alleviated with a four-watt light bulb. Plugged into an electrical socket in my room, my nightlight was instant security. I felt safe. Of course the reality was that there was nothing more and nothing less in my room with the light on than there had been when it was dark. Nothing, that is, except light itself. I suppose that had there been a goblin there in the dark to begin with, the feeble illumination of my night-light would not have prevented him from getting me and doing all of the dastardly unspeakable things to me that goblins delight to do. But none of that mattered. At least if the monster was there I could see him. The light made that possible.
The dark is not really what we fear. We don’t really even fear what is in the dark. We fear the unknown.
This is the reason people fear death.
Jesus illuminates that darkened room. Not so that we can see everything, but just so we can see enough and feel safe. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4). Think carefully about that statement. The LIFE was the LIGHT! Jesus claimed, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). He backed up that claim not only by raising others like Lazarus from the dead, but also by conquering death Himself. His empty tomb and the testimony of many witnesses declare that there is life beyond this life. He lives! We will live also! The room is not dark.
Thank God for “the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10). Thank God for the light.
— Steve Klein
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