Saturday, October 20, 2012

Are We Getting Used to the Dark?



Is it just me or are things that were wrong as recently as ten years ago now looked upon as right? Seems that a lot of bad people are getting off scot free while some good people are getting thrown in jail because they have been falsely accused!  Isaiah had something to say about this even in his day and time!  (Isaiah 59:14) "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter."

Several times this summer when the sun has been so bright and I have been out shopping, I will enter a building with lower than normal lighting and for a few minutes I can't see.  I've been used to the bright light of the sun and it takes my eyes a little while to adjust.  But they do. Adjust. To the point of hardly being able to see because of the brilliance of the sun when I go back outside!

And isn't that a lot like our spiritual lives? Maybe we spend a lot of time in the Bible and in prayer...in the bright light of the Son...Jesus Christ. Our spiritual vision is very clear. And then we step into a room of a little error. At first it looks dim. Wrong. But then our spiritual eyes adjust and the dim light seems normal.

Then we take another step away from Truth and toward error.  Lies of Satan. Darkness. It gets a little darker and we are a little fearful at first but as we continue in the darkness, again we eventually become adjusted and it seems normal.

If one goes far enough into darkness...total darkness...all vision is gone. The eyes can not adjust to total darkness.

A few weeks ago this became so clear to me in an unusual way.  Our bedroom is very very small and not much of the floor is exposed. I'm not a very good housekeeper so a lot of times when I clean the floors I just give our bedroom a "lick and a promise" as my Mama used to say!  I will just sweep the floor and give it the occasional mopping.  After all, my thinking is that nobody ever sees it and I can close the door if company comes in. So it never gets the attention the other rooms get! The problem with the floor in my room though is that it gets hairspray or floor wax buildup on it.  I always spray my hair in my bedroom. It seems like there would not even be enough hair spray to matter.  But I found out that it does!

I had started noticing that even after mopping the floor it still looked dark and dingy.  I decided to do a little experiment.  I took some household ammonia and with a Q-Tip cleaned a spot on the floor about the size of a quarter.  Wow!  What a surprise!  I had forgotten just how light colored the floor really is!  It was too late in the day for me to start stripping hairspray and old wax off the floor so put it off until the next day.  The next morning before I started that project I had to go get something from my room.  When I looked down at the floor my first thought was, "I wonder where that spot of sunlight is coming from?" ...because that's just what it looked like!

I got my mop, pail, and ammonia and went to work. The first thought I had was how embarrassing it was to let this floor get in such a shape! My next thought was that how horrible it is that I sometimes let my heart get in a similar situation. I don't even recognize it until God applies a little pressure and scrubs off a spot and I see how dirty the rest of my heart is.

I don't want that anymore!  For my floor or for my heart! I want to keep the hardness from building up to start with!  How to do that? Stay diligent. Be aware of dimness.

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

May God bless each of you is my prayer!

Marilyn

(I have stepped out on a limb baring my faults to you! Some of you may look at me in a different ''light'' now that you know what kind of housekeeper I am! I kept this post at ''arms length'' for several weeks but finally gave in to write it because I felt it was what God wanted me to share.)



6 comments:

Unknown said...

We all have places like this - I sure would hate for you to come into my house right now! We Christians are so often caught up with everybody think how wonderful we are, we just give our insides a "lick and a promise" and continue to shine up just what's visible. And that's where we lose it! We have to let our outside reflect the inside, and focusing on our relationship with Jesus makes our outside that much more attractive! Thanks for sharing, friend, for being your authentic self, and helping us to know that we're not alone in falling into a dimmer world!

Anonymous said...

This blog is great. Thanks for sharing. You wouldn't want to see my house. Since my pain is so bad, I can't do much other than run a sweeper now and then. Thanks again for this for I needed it to check out my standing with Christ.
Martha Greer

Leah Adams said...

Marilyn, that is some serious spiritual truth, right there. wow!! I'm not a great housekeeper either. Thanks for reminding us of the importance of nestling up to Christ....always.

Tulabell said...

It isn't easy to admit the things we can be lazy at, but you don't need to worry that I look at you any less, in fact I am very admirable for your honesty and humility. I so often read encouraging words and wonder if any of those people have faults, and I am sure that they do, but if they never talk about them it is easy to feel like they don't. As a newer follower of Christ (well not too new as I tend to feel) I have compared myself to other followers and have learned to let Satan's deception of imperfections go.

I really enjoy your blog, your analogy and stories speak to my heart. I too agree with the small layers of hair spray that blot out the color and life of what lies beneath in our hearts!

Praise God for you! Have a wonderful day!

elaineolsen@live.com said...

Sweet friend, if you only saw my house. . .

I pray to always have the light of Jesus shining on the floors of my heart instead of the dull crud that can easily creep in. It takes strong intention to stay clean and bright. I'm thankful for the Father's love that visions beyond my dinge and drab!

peace~elaine

Rebecca said...

Marilyn, I find myself in good & honest company here! Housekeeping is not my forte, either.....And what a great illustration of the human tendency to slip almost w/o thought away from our first love, passion and commitment to our Lord.