Getting Used To The Darkness
A fellow preacher told of visiting a woman who was almost blind. She explained that about fifteen years before cataracts had developed and that gradually she had lost her sight with the passing years. “But you can have them removed,” the preacher pointed out. “Why not have surgery, the procedure is safe ” “Well” she said, “You know how it is. I’ve gotten used to it now and I’d just as soon go on the way I am.”
Many are like that spiritually speaking. They have gotten used to the moral darkness of our age gradually, a little bit at a time, so slowly they have not even noticed. Their moral standards have been completely compromised without their even realizing it!
God’s people must be light in the world! Matthew 5.14, Ephesians 5.8-11. Light is not compatible with darkness! I John 1.5-6, Philippians 2.15, John 11.5. The scriptures repeatedly emphasize that there is no fellowship between the forces of darkness and children of light.
Tragically, many children of light have gotten used to darkness. This is seen in many areas.
In Our Obsession With Modern Entertainment. A recent report indicates that the average watcher will see 60,000 implied or explicit sexual incidents on TV in the coming year! The visual arts (Television, movies, video, internet) have slipped into the gutter but we stay plugged in! Why? We have been gradually programmed to accept an ever increasing level of indecency.
In Our Tolerance Of Immoral Standards Of Behavior. Studies show that 90% of sex portrayed on television is between people who are not married to each other. At least a third of married men and women admit to having had an affair. It is estimated that 7,742 teenagers become sexually active every day! Polls indicate that a large majority of Americans under the age of 30 feel there is nothing wrong with premarital sex.
In Our Declining Respect For Life. More than a million babies are slaughtered in this country’s abortion factories every year! Modern culture has lost its concept of life as something precious created by God in his own image, and has grown comfortable with a darker view of life as something cheap and expendable!
In Our Sinking Standards Of Christian Behavior. Things once universally condemned by the children of God are now condoned: drunkenness, dancing, dishonesty, gambling, immodesty in dress, etc. “Why not?” some say. “Everybody does it!”
But let us be warned: moral darkness is fatal! Compromising light with darkness leads to destruction. Isaiah 5.20. God’s people must be distinctive! They must stand out in sharp contract to the darkness of the times! Romans 13.12, Ephesians 5.11. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is on account of these very sins that God’s anger is coming upon the disobedient. Ephesians 5.6. Wey.
— Bobby Dockery
Fayetteville, AR
