Afraid of the Light
Captain's Log: Table Time ~ Thursday, September 18th, 2025 ~ Lauds
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
A well-known passage this morning, so I was on the lookout for a part of it that we don’t usually linger on. I stopped reading before the end of verse 19. “Why do people love the darkness?” Lydia suggested that the world has become used to the darkness; darkness is all it knows. “What might someone prefer to be in the dark?”
I ran an illustration. ‘Let’s imagine a very unlikely scenario. You (children) are up late at night in your beds, doing something you should not be doing. The door is open, and I walk past… Would you prefer the bedroom light to be on, or off?’ “Off! Off!” “Why?” “Because you’ll seeee!” Indeed. You could continue doing the wrong thing hidden by the darkness, couldn’t you? But if the light comes on, you’d be exposed.
‘This is why baddies go around at night!’ put in Lewis. ‘This is why they wear black clothes!’ put in Lydia. That’s right. The darkness hides evil deeds. And so, of course, evil doers prefer the darkness where their deeds can go undetected. This fallen world is full of darkness that people hide in. Apart from grace, our family would be the same, preferring the darkness, preferring our evil deeds.
But the light has come into the world, hasn’t it? This is why we pray for the light to keep spreading through the world, so that people can come out of the darkness. ‘Because the darkness can’t overcome the light,’ Lewis remembered. ‘That’s right, son. It has not, it cannot, it will not.’ And people don’t have to stay in the darkness. Eternal life is offered to the world in Jesus. Why? Because God loved the world.
We discussed the challenge of these words to the testimony of those who reject God. ‘Does anyone say, I’m not coming to Christ because I love the darkness and my evil deeds?’ Lydia said no right away. This would be very rare. People might say they prefer living in charge of their own lives, which is close. But often we will hear, ‘not enough evidence,’ ‘I’m happy without God,’ ‘Christians do bad things in the world.’ John’s words challenge us to remember that sinners are always seeking to preserve their sinning, whatever else is going on.
We landed here. This reminds us where the problem is in coming to Christ. It isn’t with the light. The problem is with us. There’s nothing wrong with the light. In fact, it is the effectiveness of the light that keeps many sinners in the darkness (lest they be exposed). The problem is our preference for our sin. And I tried to push a little deeper before we finished: “If you come to God in the light, you cannot keep your sins. But if you do come to Him, you won’t want to keep your sins.”
Little Catechism: Contentment; Setting Out
Some resolutions:
We will not partake of the deeds of darkness
We will make no provision for the flesh
We will put the deeds of the body to death
Put on the armour of light
Put on Jesus Christ
Wake up, stand, and fight!
Prayer
P.S. We had a fruitful discussion in the car on the way to school about what it means to make no provision for the flesh. I milked the provision image a little and conjured a scenario where I stop providing food for the children. They would starve! We must starve our flesh, provide it nothing to live on, give it no chance to survive or thrive. I exhorted Lewis on the way out of the car not to put out any meals for his anger today. He went off purposeful and determined.
