Light in darkness

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, - Ephesians 1.18

Sometimes it can be hard to see the good and the hope. As Christians have been writing for centuries it seems like the world and the church along with it are just getting worse and worse. The world of darkness around us just keeps getting darker and darker. In can, at least, take some commiseration from the fact that the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before felt the same way.

150 years ago J.C. Ryle wrote this: The time present, no doubt, is not a time of ease. It is a time of watching and praying, fighting and struggling, believing and working. But it is only for a few years. The time future is the season of rest and refreshing. Sin shall be cast out. Satan shall be bound. And, best of all, it shall be a rest for ever. It is written--"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.)

So how do we keep that in mind?

Paul here prays that believers who have the eyes of their understanding enlightened. That is, of course, the only way to see the future. The problem is that we allow our eyes to be drawn to the darkness instead of the light. It is man’s nature to reject the light in favour of the darkness.

But we have hope, we have all the riches of Christ at our disposal, and we have an eternal inheritance. We find the light we need to cling to that in God’s word. We aren’t going to have hope unless we spend time in the light of the Bible.

Instead of getting down and discouraged let’s spend time in the word of God dwelling on the hope of eternity, the riches of Christ, and our assured inheritance.