Disquieting the darkness
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Romans 13:12
It is no small task, being a light venturing into the darkness. The darkness hates the light and fights it by any means possible. Arrogance, greed, impurity, vanity, cowardice and untruthfulness are all fruits of darkness that can be present in our lives, but hiding, not wanting to be revealed. Whenever people refuse to come under the redeeming judgement of God’s Son, they fight the light with all their strength. However, God wants us to be filled with His truth and the witness of His Son, who through His death and resurrection overcame darkness, so that we can make a real difference in this ‘godless’ world. We should not only challenge the darkness but drive it out and obliterate it, because it can and it will be defeated.
For this to happen the light must have strength, which we receive from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He creates the fruit of the Spirit within us: goodness, righteousness, truth and also forgiveness and love (see Ephesians 5 and Galatians 5). As such, those who meet us will also catch a glimpse of God in us.
Goodness means facing others with love and compassion and accepting people with all their shortcomings. Gracious people never give up on anyone, as they carry the goodness of God that leads others to repentance (Romans 2:4). God’s goodness never tires out and will unceasingly offer us forgiveness and lead us to life, showing us, “There is hope for you, there is a way out. There is help; you are not a hopeless case, no matter how broken and damaged your life may be.”
This devotional is taken from the book To See God by Marcel Rebiai. If you would like to order your own copy, please email us here, [email protected].
Marcel Rebiai is a board member of Revive Israel, and is inspiration for our community. Marcel was born in Algiers in 1953. He came to Switzerland as a war orphan and received faith in Jesus in his youth, which changed his life and made him a messenger of God’s love in Jesus. Since then, he has been faithfully working for the building of the community of Messiah. Marcel is the founder of the “Community of Reconciliation”, an organization that works for reconciliation between Jews and Arabs based on God’s forgiveness and love in Christ. Marcel teaches in various settings around the world about the love that God revealed to us in Jesus, a love that enables reconciliation. Marcel has been living in Jerusalem for the last 30 years, is married to Regula, and has four children and eleven grandchildren.
