Many of us have experienced times of darkness. Times when the vision of peace, love, and provision, was the furtherest thing from reality. Sometimes that darkness gets so bad that all we desire is a glimmer of light. A place to breathe in peace. A week’s worth of provision. When we make it out of the darkness we consider ourselves having entered the light. We have arrived.
The light may give us what we think we need to survive. It’s warm in the sun. We sit in peace and breathe. We feel fulfilled with a week’s worth of provision. But I think there is something more. I think life is more than just peace, and breath, and provision. Life is relationship, and healing, and reconciliation, and truth, and love.
So, what stops us from moving from pursuing light to pursuing life? Is it the risk of not having the light? Falling back into the darkness? If so, I would submit that our focus is wrong. If all we desire is the light, then we stop when we when have what we want. But what about our neighbors, the broken relationships we could do something to repair, the folks we see who need encouragement, the times when truth needs to be spoken and love needs to be shown? We have more to do than to serve ourselves. There is an entire world in need of trustworthy relationship, healing, reconciliation, truth, and love. Be encouraged, don’t stop at the light. Pursue life.