When Jesus came into the world He was the light of the world. As the light of the world He dispelled darkness. Darkness could not remain in Jesus' presence. Demons were terrified of Him. If Jesus was there the demons asked to leave, and quickly! (see Mark 1:23-26). The darkest things on Earth can only be expelled by Jesus and to talk about fighting the darkness without talking about Jesus is to talk about fighting Mike Tyson without arms- good luck.
It is the role of a Christ-follower to dispell the darkness wherever we go. Darkness runs away from light. This I believe is the perspective we should have about every aspect of our communities. We should not let the Gentiles, so to speak, do their thing in government and business and education while we confine ourselves to religious matters. No, we as Christians are given the power and the call to invade all areas of society and dispense the light of Jesus Christ in them. Our call is not to take over places by force but to quietly invade our schools, businesses, municipalities and social networks and shine light from within them. We call this process transformation.
One of our members, I must boast, is transforming her workplace one work-day at a time. Sarah (not her real name) works in a Senior housing building in North Brunswick. She got hired in November and has been quietly dispensing light ever since. She notices the politics in the workplace but refuses to get involved. She hears the gossip but does not participate. She sees what's wrong with the system and a few within it but she keeps her efforts focused on working in a way that pleases the Lord. The residents know about her strong faith and they love her. She brings the names of certain residents to our prayer meetings so that the church can pray for them. The best part is that Sarah turned down a job making 6 figures in order to work where she is working instead. She felt it was a better place from which to dispel the light of Christ.
Sarah is bringing Christ to the workplace and the Lord is blessing her. Let me challenge all of us as Christians that it is our job not to run from darkness but to invade it and by the power of the Holy Spirit drive it to the door. I envision a time when every business owner in our city will find Jesus and use their mode of employment to dispense the light and truth of Jesus into our community. Oh what eternal meaning this would bring to our vocations which we so often think have no eternal value at all.
I can see the light of Jesus dispensing our community because I have seen it in our own members. I also know it can happen in every city nation-wide, especially Boston now. But if Jesus Christ is not the Light we shine then the darkness will not leave. We will find ourselves in a ring with a world champion boxer having no way to defend ourselves. The darkness surging in the person(s) heart that detonated those bombs on Boyleston St. on Saturday can only be eliminated through Jesus Christ. There is no other defeater of evil. There is no other preventer of evil in society than to everywhere dispense the light and truth of Jesus Christ. Let us not think that policies, good intentions or kind words about camaraderie or Patriotism can solve this problem of evil. Only Jesus can.
Keep invading the darkness folks, and let us pray for our Boston brethren that now more than ever they may dispense the light of Jesus into their beloved city.
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