Jesus said men loved darkness rather than light (John 3:19). This was especially true with regard to man’s attitude toward Jesus’ first coming (John 1:12). The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord and His anointed (Psalm 2:2; Acts 4:25-28). The rabble crowd was easily persuaded to actively seek Barabbas’ release and reject Jesus (Mark 15:8,11). He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3). Sadly, to this day the vast majority still reject the Person of Jesus Christ and His teaching (Matt. 7:13).

One of the most curious and troubling traits of man is that he always seems to want what he cannot or should not have or do what he should not do. Eve wanted forbidden fruit. Cain wanted acceptance without obedience. David wanted someone else’s wife. Judas wanted easy money. The lure of taking what is forbidden is often exciting and tantalizing, but it gives a false sense of pleasure (Heb. 11:25). Doing what you want is also the easy way in life, a life void of effort and self-discipline (Luke 9:23). It is not an enlightened existence (Rom. 1:16-32).

All throughout scripture, light is associated with truth and goodness (e.g., Psalm 27:1). God’s character is often associated with light (e.g., Psalm 37:6). To live according to the teaching of God’s word is to walk in the light (Psalm 119:105; I John 1:7). Darkness, however, is associated with evil and error. Those who are alienated from God have their understanding darkened, are ignorant and have a blindness of heart (Eph. 4:18). The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty (Psalm 74:20).

The reason for the world’s love affair with darkness is that it hides sin, or so it is believed. As long as it is dark, as long as there is no light of truth, those in sin can perpetuate their evil. But let one beam of truth pierce the darkness of sin and error, let one ray of goodness break through, and those in darkness scatter like so many roaches exposed to daylight. But the feeling of having hidden sin is only an illusion, for all things are open and naked before God (Heb. 4:13). One of the reasons, if not the main reason, those in the world often feel uncomfortable around faithful Christians is that the faithful child of God reminds sinners of their sins. The faithful child of God might well feel uncomfortable around the sinner, as well (Eph. 5:11).

Sadly, there is a group of degenerates who blatantly flaunt their filth and disobedience to God. They display openly their perversions. They have become so hardened in their reprobate minds that they are past feeling and have given themselves over to lasciviousness (Eph. 4:18,19) and refuse to retain God in their knowledge and have pleasure in every unnatural and every vile act (Rom. 1:20-32). They are so engulfed in abominations that they can no longer even blush (Jer. 6:15). They have allowed the god of this world to so blind their minds that they can no longer see the light even of the glorious gospel (II Cor. 4:4; Matt. 13:14,15). Their deeds will reward them (Rom. 2:1).

As the express image and brightness of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3), the Lord is the light of the world (John 8:12). We know also that the whole world lieth in wickedness (I John 5:19). The world hates the light of life because He reproves its evil deeds (John 3:20), though He is hated without cause (John 15:25). Since the Lord has come and lived and taught, the world now has no cloak for its sin (John 15:22). And because the world hates Him, it will also hate us as we emulate His life and follow His teaching (John 15:18,19).

Jesus said “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil” (John 3:19). Where do we stand? Do we stand in the shadows? Are we deep in the darkness of sin and error? Or do we run toward and bathe our souls in the light of God and His word? If we have been found to walk in the light in this life, in heaven there will be no night (Rev. 21:25) for the glory of God will lighten it, and the Lamb will be the light thereof (Rev. 21:23-25).

Eric L. Padgett