Too Far Gone: Redeeming the Darkness

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

When I was little, I loved to shoot hoops in the driveway of my house on the corner of Roberts Road. Being an introvert from the womb, and being more interested in nerdy hobbies/interests, playing basketball, by myself, away from the prying eyes of friends, girls, teachers and angry coaches was the “jock” treat I never knew I needed. I think my parents didn’t mind either because though the hoop’s placement was only twenty feet or so from their bedroom, and though I would shoot with the driveway light on until 11 PM, even on school nights, they never stormed out of the house, angered at my extended shooting session, scolding me to go to my room to go to bed. I could pick up the ball, envision myself a premiere NBA scorer, and be a commentator counting down 3, 2, 1 until I had to shoot the buzzer beater. And truth be told, I made more shots than I missed.

But when a jersey was on, the bright lights beamed on me, and I caught a pass off a screen while wide open, I was stuck. Completely and utterly frozen. I couldn’t hit any shots at all in a “real game,” a fact I was ashamed of for all of my brief basketball career. I was so devastated by it, in fact, that though in practice I was the best shooter on the team, I ended my tenure as a player after my freshman year, frustrated to be a bench-warmer, heartbroken that all the time I had spent in the driveway accounted for nothing in the game.

This is a prime if trivial example of spiritual darkness. This is how the enemy tells us we are not good enough, whether in something small like making a shot during a basketball game, or in many other things much bigger and much deeper. But ofttimes, we have it backwards. We focus on the external, observable “sin” behaviors, and assume other people sin or “mess up” solely because of a lack of moral fiber or integrity. The coaches and fellow players said if I had practiced more, I would have improved. That I wouldn’t keep missing shots in the game, or avoid taking them altogether when a teammate passed me the ball. They did not understand, however, that the reason I kept missing shots had nothing to do with skill and had everything to do with belief.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we are all flawed and messed up. We do choose, openly, to sin, and it is never ok. But there is a huge difference between a behavior that can change with practice and a worldview which permeates and echoes through everything we do and everything we believe about ourselves.

I was the dorky, un-athletic guy in high school. For me, this was a reality, it was not an opinion. It was the way I experienced myself in relation to others. In truth though, looking back, I had a fairly average build, long torso, and a lanky frame ideally fit for a role in basketball. But because I could not hit a shot in a high-stress situation, surrounded by coaches I never thought liked me and teammates I never thought trusted me, I believed, therefore, that I was a poor player.

How often is this the case when we think of the “worst of sinners?” How often do we see a “gang-banger,” a “slut,” an “addict,” or anyone else “obviously struggling” and so quickly attribute their struggle merely to problems they brought upon themselves?

What if the “gang-banger” never knew his father, never saw his mother because she worked overtime to support the family, received hard drugs by a neighbor to sell to pitch in for his family’s rent, and, in a rational response to a huge deficit of love, opted to join a gang to gain the love and respect he had yearned for all his life?

What if the “slut” was sexually abused as a young girl, by a man she trusted and loved, and was never felt allowed to tell anyone it because such revelations would ruin his life, and, in order to receive the love she deserves, decided to date men just like the one who harmed her because that’s what she thought she deserved?

What if the addict was homeless from birth, discarded as trash from an early age as a young boy or girl, and then chose drug usage as a means to numb the pain of a world who openly rejected him?

These are examples of heavy spiritual darkness. We all have a propensity to sin, as stated before, but that propensity will likely increase if we do not believe in the light. Shame, almost synonymous with spiritual darkness, tells us we are not worthy of love, not worthy of respect, not worthy of hope. Not worthy of getting better. When a worldview is centered on darkness, rather than light, it can never fathom of a worldview different from the toxic one it was raised in. Believing the lies of the world, of the enemy, of even some of their peers, they summate that the bleak circumstances and conditions they face is their fault. Additionally then, it extends to a belief that no one would ever care, and that the only way someone might care is if they cleaned up their act first.

This is a lie from the pit of Hell. From Genesis to Revelation and a dozen or more stories of Jesus in between, God crashes into the world of shame and darkness until there is not a trace of shame left. The apostle John himself says, recalling about Jesus, “this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:15)

The law informs us of our sin. By the law, we receive guilt, which is a healthy desire to change unhealthy, damaging behavior. But what if the law itself has been lorded over you as God? What if you are not allowed in because you don’t fit the norm, you don’t speak the right lingo, you don’t avoid the right kind of sins? Welcome to Jesus’ audience of Jews, so burdened by the extra burdens of religious elites and so deceived by a spiritually dark desire of a vengeful, violent savior that they could not see the light “from whom all things hold together.” Welcome to Western Christianity, so consumed with behavior modification and lifestyle success that entire portions of Jesus’ message are omitted in favor of the false god of law and success, leaving entire portions of the populace without knowing the full truth and gravity of the gospel.

The answer to the “obvious sinners,” “the ancient Jews,” the spiritually blind “Christian west,” and the world at large is the same; Christ and Christ crucified. When He came as the incarnate Son of Man, Jesus took on our flesh, the very desires which propel us to sin. On top of that, He defeated too the darkness and shame once and for all. No longer do we have to believe the lie that we aren’t worthy of love, of respect, of hope. Coming “full of grace and truth,” Jesus showed us a new way of being human, one which will help us to stop sin and also stop believing the lies of darkness by entrusting our lives to Him. Knowing sin would lord itself over us, bolstered by our toxic, spiritually dark view of ourselves, Jesus wiped both away with His blood, freely given for the sake of all who would dare take Him for His words and His actions.

Will we stop sinning completely? No, but we will believe the light, not the darkness, and sin less because we no longer need to. Will we stop believing the lies of shame and darkness completely? No, because Adam’s choice was twofold and gave us sin and darkness. Yet, Jesus’ redemption was also twofold, and though we war within ourselves between belief in light or darkness, Jesus always takes sides with us even when we don’t take sides with ourselves.

We live in a world of sin and darkness, one we can’t often avoid or ignore. But Jesus Himself responded to this; “in this world you will face trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” He has defeated both, our damaging behavior and our self-loathing, once and for all, declaring “it is finished.” But only when we believe Him, take sides with Him, and love Him can we change our behavior and sin less. It is belief that causes changed behavior, not changed behavior that causes belief. Put simply, to defeat sin, we must first defeat darkness. To defeat darkness, we must trust Jesus. When we trust in Jesus, therefore, we have the power to defeat sin and darkness.

No one is too far gone. No one is not worthy of redemption. For God did not send His son to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.