“The wicked freely strut about when that which is vile is honored among men.”
(Psalm 12:8 NIV 1984 Edition). 

Jesus came for the purpose of bringing the Light of His Life and His Presence into the darkness of our world (John 1:4-5). That Light is  the revelation and embodiment of all that is pure, holy, righteous and good (John 8:12).  In Christ there is no greater light, no greater purity, no greater holiness and no greater good.  There is absolutely nothing that is higher or greater than Him!   It is His Light that  reveals what holiness is.   It is His Light that reveals what purity is.  It is His Light that  reveals what  righteousness and goodness is.  Without that Light we would still be in darkness with no understanding, no direction and no hope of ever escaping the darkness.   

The powers of darkness fear that  Light. They hate that  Light because that Light exposes the wickedness  of their work (John 3:19-20).  They cannot stand to be in the Presence of that Light!  The brightness of that Light paralyzes them.  They try to  hide from that Light.

When men reject that  Light , the only True Light which is revealed only  in the Person of Christ, they give an open invitation to  the powers of darkness to rule and reign.  The darkness will initially seek to rule over  the individual.  But if left unchecked it will spread to the entire family and ultimately to the culture at large.    Once the darkness becomes entrenched, it then becomes emboldened.  Once emboldened, it  becomes proud and arrogant.  Then it begins to  promote  that which is “evil” as something that is “good” .(Isaiah 5:20).    Men will then honor the darkness as something that is normal.   The end result is destruction and death.  The death of the individual.  The death of the family.  And ultimately the death of the culture at large (Rom. 3:23). 

We are called to be the instruments of His Light in the darkness of our culture (Matthew 5:16). We are not the source of that Light.  We are merely the instruments through which that Light shines.  Let us so yield ourselves in obedience to that Light,  that darkness can no longer strut about. 

James W. Black