Embrace:
hold (someone) closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of
affection. accept or support (a
belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically
5 This
is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have
fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son
cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not
sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1
John 1:5-10 ESV
There
are countless ways people show affection to each other and one the more common
ways is through the giving of hugs. In
my book, there are three types of hugs that are universally acceptable and
given. The first one is what I call the
guy/bro hug. It is a sign of a mutual
knowing and respect for each other. The
intimacy varies on this hug based on the two guys giving it, but there still
signifies a relationship. The second
kind of hug is what is affectionally called the side hug. I call this one the church hug, because of
how often it gets used on Sunday mornings or Wednesday night youth groups. This
hug usually shows sone sort of relationship with the other person, while
keeping proper boundaries. The third
form of hugs is what I call a bear hug and by far my favorite hug. Not only do these hugs show a rather deep
intimacy and even vulnerability. These
hugs are not given out to just any one or at any time. These hugs are often given in times of great
celebration or great sorrow and should not be taken lightly.
Another
word for hugs, is embrace, and the Apostle John is asking us a very important
question in his first Epistle. The
question is, are we embracing light, or are we embracing darkness. One question is asking, are we growing as a
child of God by growing in grace and becoming holy. Or are we walking away from God and
fulfilling our own wants and desires. We
can not be embracing both at the same time, because they go together about as
well as oil and water. So lets take a
look at the natural consequences of embracing darkness.
Embracing
darkness can and will lead to a dichotomy.
We may say that we have a relationship with God or that we are good
people, but our thoughts, actions and or speech do not back this up. Its like a guy telling his wife that there is
no one else but her, and yet they go “window shopping: while they are grocery
shopping on a warm summer day and then they happen to tell their guy friends
about what they saw. We can not love and
be committed to one thing or person and yet dream of another situation. When we get to have those situations, they
never ever meet the hype of our dreams and eventually we will start wishing for
something else and we start to set fire to everything we touch and we become
broken and bitter.
Embracing
darkness will lead to vigilante justice.
In essence, we become one of the main characters in the movie Boondock
Saints. The premise of the movie is that
the main characters go around killing the mobsters and gangsters that the law
has not been able to convict. One of my
favorite quotes of the movie is, “you go around killing people who you think
are evil, don’t you think that is a little weird, a little psycho.” When we become vigilantes, ones view on
goodness, feelings, actions, and speech all become subjective can change like
the weather. In essence, we define what
is true and this truth often leads to what benefits us or how our enemy can
suffer. When we become vigilantes, any
form of healthy relationships will go out the window, and we the only person we
trust is ourselves and that doesn’t look good some days.
Embracing
darkness often leads alienation. This
means that the possibility of walking away or ruining any good relationship we
have is rather high. I know when I am
fighting alienation in my life, I tend to become secluded, I think that people
suck and that life sucks even worse.
It’s the why everyone picking on my syndrome. When we embrace this form of darkness, we
tend to pick up some nasty habits and what we struggle with, gets even
worse. It could be that we are eating or
drinking way more than we should, our truth for others really is just plain
snark and mean spirited. It often leads
to a deep depression filled with bad choices that have terrible consequences
that could take years to dig out of.
So if
embracing darkness leads us down a dark road and that the truth is not in us,
as people, we should embrace Gods truth, or light. Here is some things of what it looks
like.
Embracing
the light means confession. As I have heard it said, confession is good for the
soul. When some people think of
confession, is from the Roman Catholic tradition of going before the priest and
confessing our sins so that we receive some sort of absolution. Confession
is admitting that we have not met Gods standards. Confession and accepting Gods forgiveness allows
us to be a child of the light. This
allows Gods grace to come in and to change our heart and our outlook on
life. When this happens, we do, think
and speak differently.
Embracing
the light also is being committed to Gods Word.
It is spending time reading the Bible and time in prayer. If we are going to grow in Christ and bear
His image, we need to spend time with Him.
How do we know what God wants and desires unless we spend time with Him
and listen to what He has to say and applying it.
Embracing
the light also means that we are also means that we are yielding to the Holy Spirit
and obey His prompting. The Holy Spirit
guides us and leads us in the areas where we need to change and provides the ability
for us to change. If we were left up to
change ourselves, it wouldn’t happen, but through the leading and the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our wants and desires and even our character
changes. It is the process of Gods Image
being restored in us.
To
wrap up, when we embrace the darkness, we essentially become Heath Leadger’s Joker
and we bring chaos not only unto our lives but to the lives that we come into
contact. In essence we become morally
bankrupt. When we embrace the light, we
bring peace to ourselves and with God, but we also give this to the world who
desperately needs and wants it.
Questions to Ponder
How often do
we follow the Holy Spirits prompting?
If we become
what we embrace, is what we are embracing worth while?
Do we become
what we are vigilant against?
