Lighting The Darkness

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Lighting The Darkness
Leslie Weatherhead served as an air raid warden during the terrible days of the bombing of London. One night after a particularly heavy bombing, Weatherhead was making his way through the smoking rubble and heard the soft cry of a child. He went around a corner and found a nine-year-old-boy sobbing his heart out. He went up to him and said, "Where is your father, son?" The boy answered, "He is in service overseas." "What about your mother?" "She was killed last week." "Where are your brothers and sisters, or uncles and aunts?" the man asked, "I don't know," shrugged the little boy, "We've all gotten separated." With that, Weatherhead knelt before the lad and put both hands on this shoulders and said, "Tell me, my son, who are you?" Immediately, the small boy began to sob even more compulsively and then he said, "Mister, I ain't nobody's nothing." Weatherhead reported that if he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the pathos of those five words. That is darkness-to be alone, abandoned, isolated without the very relationships that sustain life. Johann Wolfgang Goethe was called the last of the so-called "universal men," meaning that in one life-time he managed to become competent in most significant branches of knowledge. He was a historian, a philosopher, a poet, a dramatist, and a scientist. But all this proved insufficient. As Goethe lay dying, his biographer reports that he sat bolt upright in bed and cried out with passion, "Light, light, more light!" And with those words he fell back dead. No words could have summarized the thrust of Goethe's life better. His consuming passion had been to learn more and more, to enlarge the circle of his understanding. Here was one who was the epitome of a man of knowledge, begging for more light. It is precisely for such people that the light of God's merciful love has dawned in Jesus Christ. Today we have hope in a very dark world because the light of Jesus Christ has come into our lives. But how does one obtain this light? The answer is that to receive the light of God, one has to know he is in the darkness. Once we perceive that we are like the lonely child in Dr. Weatherhead's story, we are ripe for rescue; we are ready to receive. At the heart of the Christian faith is the Good News that God brings the light that sustains our lives. It comes to us through His initiative, His choice. The Christ-event is the clearest evidence we have of God's willingness to give Himself to us. For people dying in darkness, what hope this message brings! "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life' (John 3:16) In these words, Jesus reveals that what is necessary for real life comes to us by God's desire and His initiative. We do not have to storm the gates of heaven and steal it. He brings it down to us in the person of Jesus, the light of the world. But to secure what God so freely provides, we must make room for that light in our hearts. Jesus said, "I am the light of the World. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life." (John 8:12) If you would like to discover how your life can be given greater meaning and value through faith in Jesus Christ, just write to A Better Life Ministries, P.O. Box 1540, Albany WA 6331 and ask for your FREE booklet titled "Who is this Jesus?" You can phone your request on (08) 98 418 418. Email: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Leslie Weatherhead served as an air raid warden during the terrible days of the bombing of London. One night after a particularly heavy bombing, Weatherhead was making his way through the smoking rubble and heard the soft cry of a child. He went around a corner and found a nine-year-old-boy sobbing his heart out. He went up to him and said, "Where is your father, son?" The boy answered, "He is in service overseas." "What about your mother?" "She was killed last week."

"Where are your brothers and sisters, or uncles and aunts?" the man asked, "I don't know," shrugged the little boy, "We've all gotten separated." With that, Weatherhead knelt before the lad and put both hands on this shoulders and said, "Tell me, my son, who are you?" Immediately, the small boy began to sob even more compulsively and then he said, "Mister, I ain't nobody's nothing." Weatherhead reported that if he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the pathos of those five words. That is darkness-to be alone, abandoned, isolated without the very relationships that sustain life.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was called the last of the so-called "universal men," meaning that in one life-time he managed to become competent in most significant branches of knowledge. He was a historian, a philosopher, a poet, a dramatist, and a scientist. But all this proved insufficient. As Goethe lay dying, his biographer reports that he sat bolt upright in bed and cried out with passion, "Light, light, more light!" And with those words he fell back dead.

No words could have summarized the thrust of Goethe's life better. His consuming passion had been to learn more and more, to enlarge the circle of his understanding. Here was one who was the epitome of a man of knowledge, begging for more light.

It is precisely for such people that the light of God's merciful love has dawned in Jesus Christ. Today we have hope in a very dark world because the light of Jesus Christ has come into our lives. But how does one obtain this light? The answer is that to receive the light of God, one has to know he is in the darkness. Once we perceive that we are like the lonely child in Dr. Weatherhead's story, we are ripe for rescue; we are ready to receive.

At the heart of the Christian faith is the Good News that God brings the light that sustains our lives. It comes to us through His initiative, His choice. The Christ-event is the clearest evidence we have of God's willingness to give Himself to us. For people dying in darkness, what hope this message brings! "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life' (John 3:16) In these words, Jesus reveals that what is necessary for real life comes to us by God's desire and His initiative. We do not have to storm the gates of heaven and steal it. He brings it down to us in the person of Jesus, the light of the world. But to secure what God so freely provides, we must make room for that light in our hearts. Jesus said, "I am the light of the World. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life." (John 8:12)

If you would like to discover how your life can be given greater meaning and value through faith in Jesus Christ, just write to A Better Life Ministries, P.O. Box 1540, Albany WA 6331 and ask for your FREE booklet titled "Who is this Jesus?" You can phone your request on (08) 98 418 418. Email: abl-alb@omninet.net.au