”But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy,” 1 Peter 2:9-10, NIV.
We have been called out of darkness.
We have been called into His wonderful light! So why are so many of us Christians unaware of the difference?
We are either blind to the fact that we have returned to the darkness or blind to God’s calling us out of it in the first place. Because it makes no sense not to know light from darkness as Christians. We might be in denial and think, “We aren’t in darkness. We haven’t done anything that significant that would put us in darkness since our conversion.” Or we justify our existence in the darkness, and again we think many things that aid to our justification:
“We’re good as we are—we don’t need to be 'called out,' for we aren’t really in darkness.”
“Our life isn’t that bad.”
“There’s not a lot of difference between my receiving Jesus and my life before. So I must not have 'really' been in darkness.”
I think some of us don’t really understand what darkness is and who’s in it.
Darkness is separation from God. We are all in the darkness, due to our willingness to disobey God. We actually can’t do good, but we still justify our behavior as good. As long as we live in the lie of denial, we won’t ever get up and walk out of the darkness as God has called us to do. We sit in the inevitable dark places not realizing where we are sitting. We believe the dark is for someone else, not us—the saved.
We think, “I can see just fine,” as we ignore God when He tells us He is the light, and we are actually sitting in darkness. The reality is that we are in the predicament we find ourselves (if we examined our hearts) because we stopped listening and following God and His Word.
Yet, there we sit without true hope. We sit without true understanding, and we sit unable to truly praise God for our redemption.
Being “called out of darkness” is a two-part calling—first we have to have the wherewithal to realize that we are actually in darkness. Second, we have to choose to move into God’s wonderful light.
Moving into the light is moving toward God. It’s like we have two directions: in the light when we face God desiring to do what He has asked us to do, or we turn our backs to God, which finds us facing the darkness.
Choosing to do what God says, even if it doesn’t make sense to us, is walking in God’s light.
For example—Love your enemy. If we refuse to love, forgive, or pray for our enemies, we remain in the darkness. For God has said,
“But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins,” Matthew 6:14, NIV.
Have you ever willingly refused to obey God, believing that you are sincerely in the right?
What happens when you try to praise Him? You are attempting to worship the One you are refusing to obey. How does that work out for you? Do you blame the worship team for flat, disengaging worship? Do you blame the church and decide to attend another church because this church isn’t meeting your needs?
We have been called out of the darkness. This allows us to praise God, because He has welcomed us into His wonderful, healing, truthful, loving light. Once we step into God’s light—choosing His way over our own —we then realize how dark our darkness had been.
Again, the first step is to admit God is right and not to justify why we don’t want to obey Him. The second step is to do what He’s asked us to do! God loves us, and He really does know what’s best for us, His children. He’s offering us His mercy. He’s offering us His light—to see with clear eyes who we have been and where He is leading us.
Do you realize that you are a chosen person, God’s special creation? Are you walking in the light toward God and His will for you? Or are you sitting in the darkness, justifying why you sit?
Father,
You have given us the ability to praise You. We do praise You now, for You have called us out of darkness and brought us into the light of Your kingdom. Thank you.
We praise You that Your mercies are new every morning! We praise You that You help us stand and give us the ability to walk out of our darkness! We praise You for You have promised to never leave us. Thank You!
We praise You that Jesus made all this possible! He is the light of the world—and we praise You, King Jesus!
We thank you for the gift of Your Spirit who leads us from the dark places and guides us into Your glorious light.
You have given us everything we need to walk from the darkness and into Your light. Thank You.
Help us to continue to walk with You in Your light and not to sit in the darkness of our own justifications.
We need You. We love You!
Amen.
THIS is a good word! Thank you, Father!