a serious call to live in the light (from Pastor Bo)

Shortly after Jesus quoted John 3:16 verbatim to share the gospel with Nicodemus, Jesus added: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:18-21).

This is heavy, but pastorally, we need to say stuff like this.

What I find fascinating, and what definitely rings true with what I know about human nature, is that when we are engaged in practices that we know we would be ashamed of in God’s presence, our response to the light, that is, truly seeing who we are and the choices we have made, is hatred toward and fear of that light. This hatred and fear is made manifest in doing anything we can to keep a certain part of our life in the dark. We’ll find a way to hide what we’ve done, and we’ll think we have done such a good job that no one will ever suspect. But God loves us too much. He’ll make sure we get caught, that we didn’t cover our tracks well enough. If we still hate and fear the light, we’ll deny any way we can. If that doesn’t work, defensiveness will rear its head.

In a passage we will get to soon, Paul tells us, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (Ephesians 5:8-14).

Paul says that we already “are light” if we are in Christ. But then he calls us to live it out, to separate ourselves from the darkness and to expose the deeds done in the dark. It sounds like it has to do with exposing others, and I think it does, but even more so, we ought to be exposing our own dark deeds.

We hate and fear the light because the light shows that we aren’t fully who we think we are, or who others think we are. Sometimes, the light can cause trouble for us in our marriages, in our jobs, or with the law, with disastrous consequences. Actually, it’s not the light that does it; it is we ourselves that do the damage. It’s not the fault of the flashlight or the person holding it. If you are living partially in the darkness, do yourself a favor by exposing it yourself to the appropriate person(s) rather than getting caught.

Rather than getting caught, it works out much better when you come clean. Embracing the fallout ahead of time, first, tell a pastor or small group leader or some other mature godly person you respect. Yes, you have been wounded by others, and there’s a reason you made the choices you did, but tell your confessor the WHOLE truth without justification or excuses. Let them hear your confession and help you find a way out of the darkness and into the light. If your choices are secret because they will hurt or betray someone directly, you will need to tell them as well. Not over dinner or in the midst of something casual. Tell the person that you need to talk with them alone as soon as possible, and to clear their schedule to talk. It is best to disclose only to people who need to hear it, in other words, people who have been hurt/betrayed by your actions and one confessor or one unified party of confessors.

I know the procedure because I have helped people in this process in matters large and small, and have had to walk through this myself. No, it’s not easy. The advantage in you taking the first step in confession is that you are clearly trying to do what’s right without getting caught, and you have a bit more control (but by no means complete) over how it comes out and what to do about it.

It’s more important that you walk in the light than to have most people see your false self. It’s more important to be broken and humble before God than to keep your life together. It’s more important to lose an eye or a hand than to have your whole self get burned in the fires of judgment.

Yes, this is a serious call. But I hope that it changes somebody’s life. I hope that you can have the courage to confess rather than get caught. I’ve rarely see it done. But you can do it. God’s promise is sure: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 

- Bo Bannister