Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 1 Thessalonians 5:5
A scoffer once told a Christian that, if God created everything that exists, then God must have created sin, because sin exists. But that is a false argument, because everything that God created was good, in fact, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Sin exists, not because of God, but in spite of God. Sin began when Lucifer exercised his free will and rebelled in pride against God. Sin entered into the world, not at God’s bidding, but at mankind’s rejection of God’s bidding, when man exercised his free will and rebelled in pride against God. So if sin is the opposite of God’s nature, so is darkness. If we consider the nature of darkness, we can conclude that its existence is based on the lack, or absence, of light. When we speak of varying degrees of darkness, we are actually referring to varying degrees of the absence of light. When all light is gone, the darkness is absolute, just as when all heat is gone, the cold is absolute. God is light (1 John 1:5), so if there is any light, it marks the presence of God. To be children of light, as our text declares, we must also be children of God.
As we view this world in the light of the Word of God, we can plainly see that it lies in darkness, and the children of this world are the children of darkness. An ever deepening pall of sinfulness and godlessness covers this world, as gross immorality, violence, and pride become worse and worse, even in our day. Today, people take pride in what was once rightfully regarded as deeply shameful even a few short years ago. Today, people don’t even blush at the wholesale murder of unborn children to enable unbridled promiscuous behaviour. Today, the rights of Christians to stand up for decency and godliness are being crushed to make way for the rights of evildoers to practice and promote their vile deeds. This is a dark day. And it is in a dark day that God expects those of us who are children of light to display that light.
As already noted, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. We are light, because the Spirit of God dwells in each of us as believers. Unlike the dark souls all around us, we are actually capable of displaying the light of God. We are capable of living in righteousness, of working deeds of purity and kindness, of speaking the truth in love, and of displaying the light of Christ to those around us. We are capable, I say, but are we actually the lights that our Lord desires us to be? Or are our lights muted by our disobedience to the Word of God, by the desires of self and the flesh, by worldliness and unwise choices of companions?
We have the power to be lights in this world. But the brightness of our light depends on our willingness to show it. – Jim MacIntosh