One of the things I love about where I live is there are no street lights. On moonless nights when I stand in my front yard the only manmade lights I see are the occasionally passing jets on their way to Boston. The other lights I see are far away suns bringing light to their neighborhoods. In Genesis 1 it says on the first day God made light. He must love light. It was a name Jesus took for Himself when He said, “I am the light of the world.” If I am to be like Him, and I want to be, I too must become a light.
There is another – the Prince of Darkness. He is a deceiver and liar and is thrilled when we become purveyors of his products. When we hear dark tales of innuendo and outright falsities and pass them on we have become his unwitting salesperson. We do it in subtle ways to soothe any unease we might have in doing so. We preface with “I’m not sure this is true, but …” or “I heard the funniest story. You’ll love this.” And so the dark seed is sown. Sometimes we even think it is true and pass it on because we have heard it on the “news.” And if it is true have we been called to be passers-on of that which disparages another’s name?
Paul wrote to the Philippians “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Before passing on a whisper, an innuendo or email forward we need to ask “Would Jesus do this?”
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 19, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org