[Ronzo]

What I beautiful meditation Alamo-Girl! I especially like this part:

This past weekend, that meditation continued. I was compelled to understand that the glory is the Father's, that Jesus is the brightness of His glory and that the Holy Spirit brings His glory through us. We must stay in His Light at all times.

I might go so far as to add that we must choose to stay in his light at all times! God will not force us to be in that light if we don't want to be.

When talking with a friend yesterday about Christianity, she asked a really profound question: "Why wouldn't someone want to be a Christian? It's such a wonderful experience!" Realize that my friend who said this is a widow and a mother of a wiley teenager. She has been through hell and back, and yet she has never found anything better than Jesus. She just overflows with thankfulness for all that he's done for her, and refuses to wallow in bitterness over all the difficulties she's been through in life, and, is still going through!

When the real, simple gospel message is presented, it's a powerful thing! Who would say no to it? But then how often do we hear the simply message of the gospel being preached???

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for the encouragement and for sharing your friend’s testimony!

I might go so far as to add that we must choose to stay in his light at all times! God will not force us to be in that light if we don't want to be.

So very, very true, Ronzo! As you say, we are our own worst enemy. It is so easy to drift under the pull of the distractions of this life - or to stiffen up and become opaque from our own self centeredness. And that’s people who are aware of the Light and have a desire to be there. Worse yet is that many people actually love the darkness as the Scriptures say:

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. – John 3:19-21

IMHO, that romantic love of darkness has even become part of our culture; I wonder how many realize the danger in it.

The lyrics to the song Sound of Silence are a good example for me. In this instance, the first person loves the darkness but disrespects the others in the darkness with him because they talk without speaking and hear without listening. He also knows that the “light” they worship is false, a fabrication. Tragically, he has a seed of Truth which makes him feel much alone in the darkness, but because he loves the darkness he doesn’t even considering leaving it to enter the true Light. The lyrics fascinate me and leave me wondering if Paul Simon understood this meaning when he wrote them at 3 in the morning.

When the real, simple gospel message is presented, it's a powerful thing! Who would say no to it? But then how often do we hear the simply message of the gospel being preached???

Indeed. The Gospel is the power of God (Romans 1:16) - yet many who preach don’t seem to understand. Too often the message is embellished or replaced with pseudo-intellectualisms. Sigh…