For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God. (John 3:16-21, NRSV)
In yesterday’s devotional, I wrote about the importance of exposing the darkness of our lives to the light of Christ. Today, John pinpoints one of the biggest hindrances to walking fully and completely in the light of Christ: we prefer the darkness.
Even though we’ve seen the Light and even though we know that the light is good, we still choose darkness. Why is that? John says it’s because our deeds are evil and because we don’t want our deeds exposed.
Have you ever thought about how, if humanity didn’t have the propensity for darkness, Jesus would not have been crucified? Instead, he would have come into the world to light the way, to show humanity the path that God longs for people to take. Everyone would then have taken that path, preferring light more than darkness, and all would have been well.
Of course, that’s not how the story ended.
And yet the good news, John says, is that even though humanity preferred darkness, Jesus didn’t give up on humanity. Jesus instead confronted the darkness. He took it on despite knowing that it would cost him his life He did it to demonstrate the depth of God’s great love for humanity then and for humanity now.
As we prepare for the comings of Christ, it’s a good time to ask: in what ways do we prefer darkness rather than the light? It’s also a good time to remember that our darkness not only has the potential to destroy us, but it also has the potential to destroy others. Just look at what happened to Jesus.
May God grant us the grace to expose our darkness to the love and light of Christ, so that we would experience new life…on this side of eternity and on the other.