“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” – John 3:19-21

Would you describe yourself as a lover of darkness or a lover of light? Jesus breaks mankind into two categories and leaves little room for gray areas or loopholes. We either love darkness because it allows us to continue unnoticed (or so we think) in our life of sin, OR we love the light because of the freedom it grants us as it shines bright into the darkest recesses of our heart, exposing every malady to the expert hands of the Great Physician.

Ever since sin entered the picture our natural reaction is to cover our shame. Adam and Eve made makeshift coverings in a feeble attempt to cover their nakedness. We fear it is too painful to have sin dealt with openly so instead of correcting the issue we allow it to continue under cover of darkness, which is detrimental to our relationship with Jesus and with others. The enemy’s biggest deception is getting us to believe that life will be more painful if people really knew the truth about us. That is completely false! If anything the real pain is caused by allowing sin to fester to the point where it is revealed involuntarily and we are left to pick up the pieces of the lives it has negatively affected. Someone once said that sin is like a fungus, it grows more and more in the damp, dark places; but if you shine the light in that area then it is sapped of its strength and it vanishes. God is that light and to be in fellowship with Him means that no darkness should be found in us.

I’ll never understand the fear that I’ve had and have seen in others of confessing sin and living transparently. Are we so deceived by the enemy as to think that we can hide something from God? “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:13b Now we can make the choice to confess and walk in the light before we are exposed or we can sit idly by until the light of Christ is shined into our lives and we are put to open shame. Either way it will be revealed, remember Numbers 32:23 “Your sin will find you out.”

I know how difficult this is; hey, I have lived it. It was painful at the time but I can now see the lasting benefits of that experience plus I now feel the overwhelming love and acceptance that I have in God and among His people. I have also discovered that our fear of the type of reaction we will get for confessing our sin is unfounded. The support you will get from true brothers and sisters when you confess your sin will spur you on to live in the light because by doing so we are dismantling the enemy’s strongholds in the church. So, in order for us to have true fellowship with Christ we all must learn to LOVE THE LIGHT!

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:5-9