And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:4
Many children, some of them older than you, are afraid of the dark. They see darkness as a frightful thing to be dreaded. But, according to Albert Einstein, there is no such thing as darkness: darkness is just a term we use to describe the absence of light. If that is so, and if God is light, and if God recognizes that light is good, then we don’t want to be in darkness, at least, not in spiritual darkness.
We get only four verses into the first book in the Bible before we encounter the reality of separation. It is a divine principle that God enforces, and that we should seek to understand. God places a difference between good and evil, between right and wrong, between love and hate, between kindness and cruelty, between the holy and the profane. When it comes to holiness, purity, righteousness, and goodness, there are no shadows or grey areas with God. The line is clearly drawn, as God drew it in today’s text. And God will never erase that line.
If separation is a real and absolute thing with God, should it not be with us as well? We have divine life within us, the Holy Spirit indwells and directs us, so we should be clear on separation. But are we? Do we not learn to tolerate, or turn a blind eye, to the evils, and wrong around us? Do we not excuse the shortcomings of those who do not care whether they violate God’s Word? Are we not affected by all the spiritual darkness around us?
But God has not left us without a Guide. His Word clearly condemns sin and exhorts us to righteousness. The further away we get from the Book, the more likely we are to become defiled by the world’s darkness and dirt.
It’s not just the moral sins that we see around us that are dark. The world is full of spiritual darkness that comes clothed in pretense light. Denominationalism is contrary to the Word of God, even so-called evangelical denominationalism. So is cohorting with those involved with that false way. We need to be careful that we do not slip into the dark and sinful error of not being separated unto God and from the world.
God’s Word is the Light that lets us avoid the darkness. Stay within the Light. -Jim MacIntosh