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."
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