How can a good God allow evil and sin to exist in the world? How can a good God allow suffering and pain? Why would God make so many people die in the Bible? Why doesn’t God show himself to us? How can a loving God send people to Hell? How can the Bible be true? How does the earth appear to be old, but the Bible makes it seem young? If Christianity is true, why are there so many “Christians” whose lives don’t look much different? What happens to people who have never heard the Gospel? Why are there so many denominations? … All of these questions, tend to be the single technicality as to why someone chooses not to believe, why someone chooses to remain in the darkness. The Pharisees had one just like it: They, like all of us, have so many reasons to believe in Jesus, have more proof than they need, have the evidence standing right in front of them, Jesus -The Light of The World- speaking to them, yet they choose to rest their fate on a single excuse.
You can have an Awana Award on your shelf, but be in complete darkness. You can be raised as a pastor’s kid, but be more distant from God than anyone. You can attend seminary, but deconstruct from the faith. You can be so close to the light, but choose to walk around in darkness. Sadly, we have all heard the excuses, we’ve listened to the questions, and even provided what seems to be the exact answers they need, yet people still choose to walk in the darkness… So, what are we left to do? What are we left to do when that unbelieving friend or family member pulls out another excuse or prompts us with yet another technical question? What do we do when we feel like we are living our lives as a great example, shining the light of Jesus in the dark world, yet that person we’ve been ministering to still chooses the dark?
Two things: 1.) We pray. 2.) We don’t give up.
The Pharisees/Jews that Jesus was speaking to did not have their darkness resolved with a single inquiry. Instead, Jesus responded to several consecutive questions and prompts from the people, and yet he never gave up nor backed down. Until finally, we find ourselves in verse 30 at the end of the interaction: “Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.”
That person is not too far, that person in the darkness is not your enemy, they are not too hard to reach, their questions are not too lofty for God, their darkness is no match for the light. Pray. God still works miracles. People that walk in darkness can enter into the light. Don’t give up. God still has that person in your life for a reason, continue to be the light and continue to shine the light!
You can have an Awana Award on your shelf, but be in complete darkness. You can be raised as a pastor’s kid, but be more distant from God than anyone. You can attend seminary, but deconstruct from the faith. You can be so close to the light, but choose to walk around in darkness. Sadly, we have all heard the excuses, we’ve listened to the questions, and even provided what seems to be the exact answers they need, yet people still choose to walk in the darkness… So, what are we left to do? What are we left to do when that unbelieving friend or family member pulls out another excuse or prompts us with yet another technical question? What do we do when we feel like we are living our lives as a great example, shining the light of Jesus in the dark world, yet that person we’ve been ministering to still chooses the dark?
Two things: 1.) We pray. 2.) We don’t give up.
The Pharisees/Jews that Jesus was speaking to did not have their darkness resolved with a single inquiry. Instead, Jesus responded to several consecutive questions and prompts from the people, and yet he never gave up nor backed down. Until finally, we find ourselves in verse 30 at the end of the interaction: “Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.”
That person is not too far, that person in the darkness is not your enemy, they are not too hard to reach, their questions are not too lofty for God, their darkness is no match for the light. Pray. God still works miracles. People that walk in darkness can enter into the light. Don’t give up. God still has that person in your life for a reason, continue to be the light and continue to shine the light!