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BRAVER THAN LIONS
Sam Stringer
Feb 3, 2025
"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
Imagine with me that you walk into your house in the dead of night, you flip on the lights, and everything is tidy and
clean and looking as it should. For some of you, this may be a modern miracle. Let’s imagine though that when you
turn the lights back off, it all becomes a chaotic mess. Everything’s in disorder, dishes are piled high, clothes and
garbage are all over the floor, there might even be some bodies here and there (kidding). You flip the lights back on,
and it all looks beautiful. Lights off, madness ensues. Is this how things work? No, it is not, though if you have kids,
some may have tried making arguments along those lines.
Now hopefully you are following with me as I move to the passage today: the light of the Gospel does not make
good men bad. It does not take decent, moral, slightly deserving human beings and turn them into wretched,
unworthy, hostile sinners towards God. No, my friends, the Gospel only sheds light on the conditions as they stand.
Men loved darkness rather than light because they could convince themselves that whatever the Bible had to say, it
just wasn’t so. Jesus was crucified because He was the Light and the darkness rejected Him.
A sinful mind tells itself, “There’s no God, there’s no Creator, God doesn’t love me and I don’t need Him. I don’t
need a moral compass coming from some Bible, I determine truth and that’s that.” You’ve probably heard people
talk like this and you very well have said things like this yourself. Sin is blinding but it’s also like a carnival mirror
inside of us, contorting a sinful person into some reasonable and acceptable saint in and of themselves. People
who love practicing evil do not come to the light lest their deeds be exposed for what they are. We live in a society
that loves to redefine everything these days, making ourselves out to be our own authorities to truth, defining
ourselves and others like we’re walking Webster’s dictionaries and it just isn’t so.
“He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
We will stop fearing the light when we see the love within it, the forgiveness within it, the power to live righteously,
and the kindness of God despite our great sinfulness. We don’t have to fear the light, we don’t have to reject the
light or grab a baseball bat to smash the light so we can do away with it. We just have to make peace with the light
by agreeing with what we see under its rays. Jesus is the good, righteous, holy Savior of sinners, and we are those
sinners. God is worthy of praise, and we owe Him that praise; He doesn’t need the praise but we need to give the
praise. We exist in His world, not He in ours. God is not dependent upon us humans, but we are dependent upon
Him, whether we admit that or not.
Light is a gift. Spiritual light is a gift. When that light enters your heart and your world, everything looks different
because you’re no longer running on your sinful impressions but now you’re interacting with truth. It’s not always
easy by any means to face the truth, but aren’t you glad you have light? God could and would be right to leave us in
the dark, but His Gospel shines forth and gives us light. The residing Holy Spirit within every believer illuminates life
in conjunction with the Holy Scriptures, the word of God.
We who are believers not only have light, but to the world around us, we are light when Christ is in us. When we
face rejection for our faith, it is as this verse describes, men hating light because their deeds are evil. The pushback
will inevitably come because of what is inside of others. It’s not because you’re terrible when you’re a Christian that
you’re rejected; according to this verse, it’s because sin reigns in the hearts of others. Now, this doesn’t mean we’re
sinless by any means, but the light of Jesus is shining through broken vessels made useful. I encourage you to
work on shifting your perspective of the light you carry and the opposition you may receive, because it is inevitable
that there will be opposition so long as sin exists and makes people obstinate rather than naturally bowing the
knee. Christ can break those hearts though and turn harsh sinners into humble servants. Be brave today, braver
than lions.
Sam Stringer
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
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