One of the funniest things about light and darkness is that they are complete opposites and contrast each other no matter what the situation may be. This is a simple concept to understand, even for a small child all the way to an elderly person. There is no great need for insight into this when it is seen with the plain eye, but to understand it scientifically you might need more then simple faith to dive into this wonderful truth. Since I have in the first two blogs on this subject have laid out some issues that I have pushed through I will get a little more theological but not forget the practical, all that said lets push through!
I believe in all theological truths one must start with what scripture says of God and nothing else; Scripture says in Genesis 1:1-2, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." This is the start if all things that point to God as creator, sovereign and sustainer of all things, but for me in this subject of light and darkness is in the third verse, in that of light being created and separated from darkness in the third and fourth verse of Genesis chapter 1. The very first action that we have from God is that of creating light and separating it from the darkness.
This understanding about light and darkness is all throughout the first chapter of Genesis when God separated the lights in the expanse that he created, he also set a greater light to govern the day and lesser light to govern the night. Now God does a lot a separating in Genesis chapter 1 which has a lot of significance but for the sake of the blog lets stick to light and darkness. In Hebrew culture, Theology is one that always points to God as light and darkness is always pointing towards evil. I find it very interesting that the culture of Genesis 1 would be understood as a monotheistic culture, but all around it would be look at as a pluralistic theological culture. In Genesis 1 God never directly calls Himself light (there are many implications of this though). We see that when the plague of darkness comes over Egypt only where the hebrews live is the light (Exodus 10:21-29). I could go on but we'll progress towards how do we live this out.
Since we see in Genesis 1 an understanding of God creating light, then separating light from darkness. I have to say that as a believer I am called to "walk as a child of light" and in that to live out what is "good and right and true" (Ephesians 5:8-9). We also see that Jesus says "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). These are some huge indications of God's people to be along with being called the light of the world (see Matthew 5:14-16), for this is not be taken lightly or with to much simplicity. Seeing what we are to be which lines up with God in the act of creation in Genesis 1 is to create places of light, to separate from the darkness but also to have our light shine in the midst of the darkness. Now the last two are hard cause of the great contrast but there a must for believers to live as light and not be overcome by darkness.
What does this look like for us in the culture we individually and collectively live in? Honestly I don't know what this looks like for you cause I live in Colorado Springs and I'm not sure where you live, but we MUST as God's people being the most beautiful redemption and only true God to people that are desperately in need. Dan Kimball said "We shouldn't 'go' to church, we should 'be' the church" (Sentralized conference). Part of how I do this is I work out of a coffee shop not in a building and I also have a second job at a restaurant called Red Robin both are places that I'm trying to create places of light along with keeping separation from darkness and light in the darkness in view all the while. I will continue to touch further on these last two paragraphs in my next blog.
God's grace and mercy to you all!
