“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5).
If you want to frustrate Hell, let your light shine!
Recently, I was in our sanctuary with my husband and our daughter-in-love (who works as our Administrative Assistant) making preparations for a Bible School class. The three of us were in a very large room together with ONE fly –but somehow, this single fly found a way to irritate all three of us!
I hope this is how Hell feels when we let our light shine!
Imagine a large auditorium with no windows or exterior doors. If all the lights were turned out, it would be pitch-black in the room–so dark in fact, you and I wouldn’t even be able to see our hand in front of our face. But now imagine if a single firefly was released. All of us would see it. No matter how dark the room was, the single glimmer from a firefly could breakthrough the darkness.
This is how it is with the Light of Jesus in your heart. He said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). In other words, He is the Light that lives in you, therefore YOU are never in the dark. In fact in another passage, because of this truth, Jesus said you and I are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)– all because He made our heart His home.
But the funny thing is what John said about the effect of light on Hell. “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” It tickles me to think of Hell (the devil and all his demons) scratching their heads saying, “What is it? Where does it come from? Why can’t we put it out?” This is exactly what it means when the Bible says the darkness did not comprehend the light. In other words, they don’t get it.
Another translation says, “…and the darkness could not overcome it.” I like this too. If a firefly in a dark auditorium has the ability to breakthrough the pitch-black, what can the Light of Jesus in our heart do in a dark world?! Hallelujah!
And just like the irritating housefly that buzzed around our heads the other night, I hope our Light shining in the devil’s darkness irritates the fire out of him! But of course, I don’t have to hope– I know it does! It is the reason he is forever trying to extinguish our light.
But praise God we’re not in the dark anymore! “For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born to the Light]. For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life” (Ephesians 5:8-9, AMP).
