Missing The Light You Can't Afford To Miss


Chaco Culture National Historical Park--it's situated in a remote 
corner of New Mexico. It's a place where a thousand years ago, the 
ancient ancestors of some of today's Indian tribes enjoyed this 
thriving civilization. They were, as a recent article in USA Today 
reported, "astronomically observant."
For modern visitors, it's still a great spot to be astronomically 
observant; a place where you can see the heavens without the 
interference of the artificial light that's all around us much of the 
time. Several years ago, a woman came to the visitor's center desk to 
report something remarkable that she'd seen
in the sky. The ranger held his breath for another "UFO sighting," 
only to be surprised by the woman's excited description of a "lane of 
white powder" she said that she had seen spanning the heavens above 
her campsite. The ranger had the great pleasure of informing this 
lady that, for the first time in
her life, she had actually seen the Milky Way.

Let's talk about "Missing the Light You Can't Afford to Miss."

It's estimated that more than two-thirds of the people in the United 
States and Europe cannot see their home galaxy from their backyard 
because of all the other light in their world. We're actually blinded 
to God's real light by the artificial light around us. We are. 
There's so much distraction all around
us that we can miss the one light that we can't afford to miss. For 
you, today could be the day that God wants to help you take a step 
away, and see that light for yourself, and your life will never be the same.

In II Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 4, our word for today from 
the Word of God, we have unveiled for us a spiritual conspiracy to 
actually keep you blinded to the greatest light of all. You need this 
information. Here's what it says: "The god of this age ..." When the 
Bible says that, it's referring
to the enemy of your soul and mine, the Devil. Who, by the way, hates 
you and wants you in hell with him forever. "...the god of this age 
has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of 
the gospel (or the Good News) of the glory of Christ." All your life, 
Satan has been flashing artificial
lights in your eyes to keep you from seeing the only light that can 
direct you to heaven. That light is Jesus Christ, who loved you 
enough to die to pay for your sins, who's powerful enough to walk out 
of His grave under His own power.

The Devil has a pretty simple strategy for keeping you out of God's 
family and keeping you out of heaven forever--"anything but Jesus." 
He doesn't care what your heart turns to, as long as it's not Jesus. 
Satan doesn't care if you get real religious, if you're active in 
your church, your community, if you
pursue spirituality, even if you get a lot of Christianity, just as 
long as he can use all your Christianity to blind you to the fact 
that you're missing Christ. He'll keep your heart busy with a 
boyfriend, a girlfriend, a marriage, a family, all kinds of demands 
on you, a career, recreation, fitness, a
house, a car, retirement - whatever it takes to keep you from seeing 
your need of Jesus until one day it's forever too late.

But the Bible tells us that God has mounted a counterattack, so you 
don't miss the one who came here to rescue you. The Bible says, "God, 
who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness made His light shine in 
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
in the face of Christ.'" That's
what God is doing in your heart right now, as you listen to these 
words. He's turning on the light in your heart. It's important you 
give yourself to Jesus while the light is still where you can see it, 
because very soon your enemy from hell will come again, and turn on 
the artificial lights that have made
you miss Jesus so long. This is your day to meet the One who created 
you, to begin a personal relationship with the One you were made by 
and made for.

It starts when you say, "Jesus, I'm yours."