Luke 11 verses 35-36. “See to it, then that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”
The darkening of our perceptive ability and the clouding of our discernment is culpable. Our Lord warns us that we must not let this happen. This in turn implies that it is within our power not to let this happen. Even unregenerate people can act morally and with good sense, as Jesus indicates in Luke 11 v 13. Even though a man may not be a believer he can make moral choices to give good gifts to his children. So too, all of us, whether we are believers or not can reflect on our lives and recognise when we are wrong or when we are allowing wrong choices to ruin us or impact our families. How many times have we heard people saying that they themselves were fools for taking a particular course of action or allowing a certain bad habit to enter their lives.
People who are not Christians still have perceptions, consciences, and discernment. They can still make judgements. They can know if lust, or greed or ambition is taking over their lives. They can recognise it and be held responsible to do something about it.
So too in the spiritual realm, all people can do as the Queen of the South did. They can hear the facts and perceive what is right and respond to it. That is what the Ninevites did to Jonah’s preaching. They perceived that it was true and they responded to it by repenting of their sins and averting the judgment of God. And if they do not, they will be condemned at the Judgement for not doing what they could have done.
We all have an inner voice that makes it impossible not to know what is true and what is false. Our problem is we have no natural desire for the truth, even if we know it is true. But still we are accountable because we know truth is truth and a lie is a lie.
But such is our delusion that we can snuff out the inner lamp and because darkness descends we can pretend to ourselves the truth is not there.
Jesus says: “See to it, then, that the light that is in you, is not darkness”.
There are many teachers, gurus and wise men in the world, lauded and applauded by the world. But the “light” that is in them is darkness – and those who love darkness, want it that way.
Let that not be true of us.