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You Can't See in the Dark

    Oftentimes, we judge people living in sin for making the decisions they make. We think that the answer is so obvious and that it shouldn't be that hard to resist the devil. Really, it is unfair. It is extremely hard for those without Jesus to make any kind of good decision. Even for those just coming out of darkness and into the knowledge of the light. They are so mixed up in the dark that it is near impossible to distinguish anything for itself. But ah, with God all things are possible. 

    We cannot expect people to be able to know the difference between good and evil right away. Think of the garden-- Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before they sinned against God, they only knew good. They walked in righteousness and were spiritually connected to God. But as soon as they sinned, their eyes were opened to the evil in the world as well and they died spiritually. From then on, we all were caught up in sinful nature.

Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (NIV)

Genesis 3:6-7 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked (NIV)

    Much like Adam and Eve only knew good prior to their fall, those who are living in darkness only know evil. If they have never experienced the goodness of the ways of Jesus Christ, they have nothing to compare it to. Have grace and understanding for those people and be patient with their journey. Do the only things you can do for them-- pray for them and love them like Jesus would. Do not be discouraged by a person's confusion-- you were also confused when living in the dark. Have compassion and relentless love for those who need Jesus. 

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (ESV)

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. (ESV)

1 John 4:89 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (ESV)



“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”



--C.S. Lewis

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