Light vs. Ignorance

"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place" (2 Cor 2:14).

When you see the word "darkness" in the Bible what do you think of? I used to think of darkness as "evil" or "bad." I suppose we could use the word in that context at times. But many times the word means something else. The way the word is used in the Bible can often mean "ignorant" or "lacking in knowledge."

The Apostle Paul preached words that helped bring light into dark places. In other words, he preached knowledge - knowledge of the Person, Jesus Christ - and his words shined the light in the darkness. Where there was once ignorance in regards to Jesus, his words shined the light and "diffused the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

It wasn't Paul's lifestyle that the Gentiles were interested in. It was his Jesus. It wasn't the law that he had formerly preached. It was Jesus. The sweet smelling aroma that attracted people to Paul was really the knowledge of Jesus, and when Paul shined the light on the truth of who Jesus really was, people came running to him, and not away from him.

It's been a while since I shared a message from my pastor in the late 90's, "Pastor Mark." Tonight I was listening to a message from him from 1997 that I just couldn't help but share! I believe you will be highly encouraged by this, as he speaks of how the "light," in many cases in the New Testament, is really referring to the knowledge of Jesus, and darkness is referring to being ignorant of Jesus. When the light shines in the darkness, ignorance is diffused and people come to know the One who God gave as a gift to mankind.

Download it, give it a listen, and let me know what you think! It's almost an hour long, and well worth it if you listen to just part of it or the whole thing. I love Mark's sense of humor and his excellent preaching of Christ.

Brought Near - We Are In The Light

Latest Growing in Grace program is ready for downloading/listening. Christ came to take away sin (John 1:29), and we have been brought near to God by His blood (Eph 2:13), not by our works (Titus 3:5). He has taken us out of darkness and we are in the light! Does that fact change when we sin, or when we waste our lives in prodigal living? This week Mike and Joel continue talking about the parable of the prodigal son, his older brother and his father (Luke 15:11-32), and we discuss which one of the three had the proper perspective about both sons’ standing with the father. Sometimes our thoughts, emotions, actions, behavior, etc, may cause us to feel as if we’re not in the light, but we always need to remember that it’s God’s grace that has brought us into the light and keeps us there! With the proper perspective, we’ll grow more and more into who we truly are as children of the light (Eph 5:8-10).

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