That Dark Spot Within You (re-post)

This is a re-post of a blog from my other blog Seeker of Light written last June. I thought it would be a good follow up to my last blog post here. Let me know what you think.


As I was listening to the testimonies and hearts of people sharing last Sunday, God placed a verse inside me that I thought I knew the meaning of. It started to haunt me as I pondered its meaning again. The verse was: "If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt. 6:23

I love how the Contemporary English Bible translates that whole verse. "Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!"


The part that strikes me, as a soul, seeking God, is the "eyes wide in wonder and belief" part, so as to drink up all that there is to what God has to give. That soul is completely given to the entirety of Gods life flowing into them and through them. Such a stark difference from what follows with the picture of darkness.

This is the message we hear from John 3:19 in the Message version: "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."

When you are operating in the dark, thinking in the dark and walking in the dark, as opposed to walking in the light, something happens inside your mind. A dark place begins to form and a void begins to fill up with all sorts of nasty thoughts. The blinds are pulled shut. Lack of light and communication continues to forms a darker spot yet and then comes the double whammy. That darkness creates confusion and fear. Dread comes over you so you avoid looking people in the eyes, coming out of your room, and just plain fearful of any confrontation from anyone about anything.


So we have the opposition of light and darkness. However, darkness cannot exist when there is light. It seems quite simple that you would just replace the darkness with light. Right? That only works if you want to be in the light and look at what is being exposed by the light. But if the light that is in you is darkness, then you can't really see what the light is exposing because you are really still in the darkness. You just don't know it. You can't admit that you are in the darkness (sin) and that you may be doing something other than what you think you are doing. You have convinced yourself that you are right and the others are wrong. Dark vs. Light. Light and Dark. Not the same!

Have you ever been in a cave? when the lights are turned out it is pitch black in that cave. It is scary and confusing. You cannot see your hand in front of your face. You can't see anything. If you try to walk, you will be sure to run into something or fall in some hole. You are in a dangerous place and not able to guide yourself out. You need help. You need someone to guide you. But if that person can't see anything either you will both end up in the peril of life threatening stumbling and wandering in the dark. What you need is light. You don't have any light nor are you filled with light. Darkness and light cannot co-exist in the same place at the same time so without any light it will be dark.


When our minds get darkened and deceived by the deceitfulness of sin, we hide from God and run into the darkness. Then when we are in the darkness we are overcome with it and we can't find our way out. We are too proud and stiff-necked to admit we might be standing in the dark or can't find our way out. We refuse to ask for help and we continue to think we are OK but we really are not. We need some light. We need someone who has light.


That is what that verse means. "If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt. 6:23


So how do we over come that darkness?


When you were standing in that pitch black dark cave, just a match or small light could illuminate the entire area around you. You could see where to walk and not stumble or fall. You could even lead others who were in that darkness out as well. That small light could drive out the darkness. You need someone to give you some light.


Now imagine that place being flooded with light. Imagine that a hundred people in that cave all had very bright lights. Imagine that a giant spotlight was then turned on and everything around you was revealed. You could see the walls, crevices, small little creatures, fine lines in the walkway, every inch of every surface all around you. Nothing would be left to your imagination. Nothing would be in a shadow or hidden from your view. You would have no problem at all in defining the place you were in or what was around you. That is what the saints and the Holy Spirit of God is like.

How do we find that light?

There is a plan that God has for your life. That plan centers around you walking in the Light of His Son, Jesus Christ and in the presence of His Body, the Church, those who are called according to His purpose. Put away the childish thoughts and the ways of your own understanding. Put into practice the ways of Light and Truth, demonstrated by the love God has placed before you, in unity with His Bride. Relinquish your own selfish thoughts and ways and join with those who are walking on the God-path. You will find a new and glorious life that only God can give you when you empty yourself. Embrace the Light. Look full into the face of God and let your eyes be wide in wonder and belief. Give up and let the God-light direct you out of darkness.

How Easily We Are Offended

It amazes me at how easily we can be offended with others!

My first thoughts when I see someone acting out because of an offense is to ask, "Just who do you think you are?"

Why would I ask that? For a couple different reasons I guess, because if we are Christians, REAL God followers, we should not be surprised at those things. We should expect that our enemy is looking for every way possible to distract us from what is really important about following God.

Jesus spoke about those things in the Beatitudes. You should probably read what he said about offenses and your reactions to them. It would be good for us to remember those word daily before we go off on each other for things said and done. Click Here to read the Beatitudes. This statement He makes about offenses indicates to me that we most often have the wrong response to an offense.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

The "rejoice and be glad" part is where we tend to miss it, don't we? We seem to forget that taking those offensive words or actions and retaliating back against the one who delivered them is not what we should be doing. Nor should we take that offense and sulk in it. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We should learn how to become joyful in the midst of trials and offenses. Are we there yet?

So what do we do with offenses? I can tell you the first impulse is to take hurt, cry, run away and hide. Then after that comes mulling it over and telling someone we like and trust about it. Then if we don't get godly counsel from that friend, we start vindicating ourselves by talking to more people and spreading around the offense taken and shared by those who love to hear gossip.

Instead, we have been taught and know what we should do is to go to that person who has offended us and tell them you were offended. Try to come to some level of understanding and reconciliation between you and them. Find forgiveness and restoration for your fellowship in Christ. This is what we have been taught.

Frank Viloa wrote about offenses lately in his blog and it struck me that those things he mentioned were so real for us. One statement he made inspired much more thought about offenses. It was this statement I thought was so true.

"When wise and discerning believers are concerned about someone, they go straight to the person they are concerned about privately as Jesus Himself taught us to do, asking questions rather than making allegations" Frank Viola

 The asking questions part is so vitally important! We don't always know what that other person was thinking or even meant when they offended us. They may not even know they offended us. Unless we go to each other and talk it out, they could easily be slandered by our unwillingness to talk about it with them.

There are many of you who may read this blog and think, "I'm just fine. No offenses here. Nothing left undone with anyone around me." That may actually be true, but if it isn't, I implore you to immediately go to the person you have an offense with and get it worked out. If you can't get through it with them, then go get some others to help you get through it. Unless that person or you are unable to see and hear God, our Lord will bring reconciliation and restore His joy in you. He will restore fellowship in that relationship.

The practical truth is, if there is no joy in your relationship with others, you might want to have a close look at that, with regards to your relationship with God first. As Christians, you cannot have a joyful and honest relationship with anyone unless God is the center of your life. If God is filling you with joy, joy will spill out of you. You will respond joyfully to everyone around you. Why wouldn't you?

And when someone says something hurtful to you or does something hurtful, you will not spiral down into that dark and depressing place of despair, anger and hatred. You will count it all joy for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. You will walk in the light and do those things which bring about peace and joy. You might even break out into a wholesome smile or laughter. Wouldn't that be a welcomed change?

One last thought. When you become insulted or offended by someone, it might be a wise idea to look carefully at what was said about you. There is a possibility that you are acting in a way that is offensive to others. You may not be aware of your behavior as offensive. That person may have been sent from God to save you from yourself and help you change your attitudes and behavior.

I'm not suggesting that you go into a deep depression over it, but I am suggesting that there may be something true about a statement made about you or against you. that is why you need to ask questions and have an open mind about offensive words and actions. You may think you are "All That, and a Bag of Chips", so to speak. Maybe God is trying to help you get a grip on reality. That offensive statement could be a life saving word, spoken at just the right time, for your good. Think about that.

Are you in unreality? Are you easily offended? Do you blow up in anger often at little things that irritate you? Are you easily irritated? Do you walk around with a chip on your shoulder, waiting for someone to knock it off? (That's an old adage about looking for trouble so you can fight.) Do you wear a frown or scowl? If any of these thoughts or feelings are true about you, please get some help!

The practical truth is that God did not create us to be miserable, angry or depressed individuals; lost, hopeless and consumed by our passions. He created us for His pleasure, to have fellowship with Him. He wants to fill us with His joy and demonstrate His love towards us.

When we are filled up with His love and joy, we can be one with Him and all those who are also filled up with Him. We can smile a real smile of joy and hope. We can be saved from all the unreality and offenses in the world.

Life is not all about us. It's about God and our cooperation with Him to live the life He gave us in a way that keeps us connected to Him. That is fellowship. That is joy! That is real life!

While listening to the praise reports and all the things people were thankful for at this mornings gathering, I began to think about the practical ways God brings us to live this life. I thought about how we actually put feet to doing something or how we respond to the words of God, spoken or read in the Bible. I didn't want to leave our gathering without doing something about those things I heard spoken. So I determined to begin looking at the practical truth of what God is saying to us.

I have mostly been an individual who goes to the "What will we do about that?" question after talking about a problem or challenge in my life. Maybe that is because I am a man and I'm told that men usually go to the point of "fixing things"; especially with their wives. I'm not sure about all of that but I do know my tendencies are to analyse and break everything apart to discover the best or most efficient way of accomplishing a task at hand. Sometimes that is a blessing, other times not.

I wonder, when we read the Bible, or hear someone speak of the things of God, does it make us want to do something about it? Or do we just think about it and accept the warm fuzzy feelings as enough of a response? Do we think, "Those were great thoughts and I feel really wonderful hearing all about it, but I'm comfortable where I am at. Please don't ask me to do something"?


The practical truth is that we most times do just that. Otherwise we may have a variety of lessor responses. Sometimes we even respond in a way pleasing to God! What ever that may be for you, I personally wish to respond in a Godly way. I don't always do that, due to laziness, business, forgetfulness or fear of making a mistake. In my heart and mind I do want to please God. Sometimes I just don't know what to do. It all seems so overwhelming at times.

That is where I see the practical truth of changing the way we think. We don't want to repeat the mistakes of our past or the ineffective ways we have embraced. We want to find new ways of thinking and seek out what works. We want to discover, understand and act in a more practical way towards God. We don't want to be enslaved to our old habits of destructive thinking and act out of them. We want to change. We want to be different.

How can we do that? I believe there are a few ways of doing that. One is to look at the lives of others. They can be inspirational to us if we believe we can learn to do the things they have learned to do. Another way is to seek and find what God has given us as examples and instruction in the Bible. Most always we can find something there if we look. That's where the practicality of "seeking and finding" comes into play. I have an electronic Bible and the Internet, where I can type in a word or phrase and find thousands of resources. God has given us an abundance of resources if we are willing to use them. A good place to start is to talk to God and ask Him to show you what you need to do. He will show you if you are sincere and diligent to look.

Finding those thoughts and examples are the beginning of what to do. We must put into practice the truth we discover. God will reveal to us those deep truths if we seek Him. Revelation then produces reality. Response is what revelation produces when it is married to the earnest desire to follow and please God. Every thought will bring a response of simple action. It may not be the groundbreaking announcement of historical revolution but it may revolutionize your life.

Let's talk about reality for a moment. Reality is simply what is real. It is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. Not just what you think about a thing but what is true about it. It takes an inspection of our lives and thoughts. This is something which is very unlikely to have happen through your own judgments. We need others to look at our lives and speak to us about what they see. We must exercise bravery and ask people to tell us what they honestly see about us. Then we must honestly look at that and respond to the truth.

What if you don't think what is said is true about you? Then go ask another person, and another person after that. Keep asking until you have a good collection of inspections from other people who care about you and love you. Pay attention to what they have to tell you. It most likely will hurt or grate you the wrong way, but you want to be in reality, don't you? Thank them and thank God for revealing the truth about your thoughts and actions. Then start getting over yourself. You are not all that and a bag of chips. Step into reality and life will be much more enjoyable.