Luke 11:33 “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.”

Luke 11:34 “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.”

Luke 11:35 “Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.”

Luke 11:36 “If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.”

Hello readers, welcome to my blog today! If you have read before, welcome back, if reading for first time, then welcome… full stop!

I hope you enjoy your time here, and I hope what I’ve written can be in some way useful to you, as the purpose of my blog is primarily to build up Christians in their most holy faith by pointing them to God’s word.

What I’ve written… is firstly and only because “it is written”… so I would encourage you to get in the Bible for yourself ultimately!

But for now, if you’ve come across this blog, I hope this is not an empty well, but something that you can draw from that will help you on your personal journey of life!

Today I am talking about this phrase found in Luke 11:36 where our Saviour Jesus Christ said “having no part dark”. Today, I saw that phrase for the first time. I’m sure I had read the words before, but they had not registered like they did this morning during my Bible reading.

I have attached a photo I took recently, I think it’s a nice photo as far as phone photos go, but it is relevant to this theme of “light” that Jesus was talking about here.

You don’t get any more “light” than sunlight! This photo is winter sunset in Adelaide, Australia after a beautiful clear sunny day. I hope wherever you are, you get to appreciate some glorious sunrises and sunsets for yourself, because truthfully, photos never truly capture the moment.

You know that sun you’re seeing there? … that’s who Jesus likened himself to when he said that he is the light of the world! But he also said we as Christians are meant to be the light of the world too! And we can only be light because of the light of Christ in us.

So as Christians, which I hope you are through personal salvation trusting in Jesus to save you from your sins… we are then meant to be full of Christ’s light, and Christ’s light in us is meant to shine and thus impact and influence those around us in much the way you see the sun doing in this photo!

This sun lights the whole world! May we as Christians light the whole world!

We all like to see the sunshine, hopefully we all can be a ray of sunshine into someone else’s dark despairing life today. People need light! But in order for us to be light in someone else’s life, we firstly need to have light ourselves!

Because let’s face it… while it’s nice to talk about being salt and light… yet our Christian lives are often far from being all sunshine (no pun intended). Back here in “reality” we all can have a real problem with the darkness in our own lives. Maybe that’s where you are at right now.

I saw that key phrase in here from the mouth of Jesus Christ “having no part dark”. Because, you see, we may have some light in us, and Jesus in fact has lighted every man that has come into the world… but as Christians who have received light, we often can have a lot of darkness in our lives. And this darkness is a real problem.

And so this blog is about the “dark part”. Do you have dark parts in your life? I believe it is good for me… and probably for you too… to ask ourselves this question “is there any dark part in me”? Is there shady stuff going on in my life? Are there dark rooms and dark closets in my heart?

We all have a real problem with “dark parts” in our own lives. And I’m going to bring up some things that could be dark parts in your or my life, but it won’t be exhaustive, and because yours may be different to mine… but darkness is darkness nonetheless, and we should all want the darkness gone and to have no dark parts in our lives.

It’s actually incredible to think that we could have received a lot of light, believed in the light… we believed the Bible, we are saved, and yet we have a real problem with darkness in our lives. And because there is darkness in us, that’s a big problem both in our own walk with God and influence and impact on those around us.

Let’s be clear – there should be no “dark side” to your or my Christianity. And so we ought to consider what Jesus was talking about very carefully… because many Christians have a dark side, or a darkness in their Christianity these days. And this ought not be. God please don’t let this be in my life.

So what could these dark parts be? Well let’s start here… here’s a dark part that you or I may have. Hatred. Resentment. Bitterness. Unforgiveness. Well those are four things! True, but they all get very related! But let’s just focus first on “hatred”. Because the book of 1 John talks about the darkness of hating your brother… and as Christians, amazingly, yet we can have a real problem with hating those who we ought to love.

We should not hate the brethren. The Bible says “let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” So we should not nurse hatred of anyone, but particularly not hate Christians, in our heart. And people can hide that dark part real well. Maybe only you and God know it’s there… but it’s there.

It’s important to realize that Jesus said “take heed” in these verses, because he’s warning us here. None of us are above the darkness. And none of us are above being filled with darkness because of dark parts in our lives.

Remember, the Bible says there is no darkness in God “at all”. As children of God, we shouldn’t want to have light and darkness in us, because light and darkness are not meant to coexist, and they cannot. You will not have a happy time as a Christian mixing light and darkness in your heart and soul.

But on we go. Maybe you do pretty well at the hatred. What’s another dark part we may have? Hmm, how about envy? Maybe you’re envious of other people, and behind that exterior that you’ve got up, your Christianity is a mask for an ugly envious and covetous of other people heart. You can’t be happy for others, you can’t rejoice for others, because you envy everyone else.

Maybe you go nup… don’t gots a problem with envy. Well… how about pornography? Do you struggle with porn? That is often a dark part of many men, and also women’s lives. That can be a very dark part which ruins your walk with God, and your light shining in this world. Don’t underestimate the capacity and power of the dark part to take from the light. We think we can just dip our toe in sin and withdraw from it unscathed… not so. It doesn’t work like that. Get that dark part OUT Christian!

How about just ungodly dreams and desires? See, maybe you’re a Christian doing a lot right… but there’s something in you that is yearning for this world and it’s sin, and you’re just waiting for a chance to it. There are many kids who grow up Christian who are doing what they do because of expectation, peer pressure, and who they are around… not because they’ve got it in them inside for themselves.

Another dark part could be past sin… like something wrong that you’ve done, or somewhere you’ve disobeyed God… and it’s like a skeleton in your closet… but it’s troubling your Christianity greatly. I don’t know what it could be, but until you get your conscience clean, cleansed by the blood of Christ upon confession and repentance of sin… you’re never going to be able to shine quite right.

For some people their dark part is hidden, for others it might be more obvious. See, not all darkness is as easily identifiable. Maybe it’s hidden deep within and it’s manifesting in different ways outside, but people can’t see where it’s coming from. Or maybe it’s more obvious. Maybe it’s “just” drinking and fornicating. Obvious or not, it’s darkness.

It’s more than worth mentioning and highlighting that none of us are truly better than anyone else. Maybe you don’t have that person’s dark part… but maybe they don’t have yours. And so instead of looking at others, we all have to look at ourselves… and ask God to “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

If we can truly, through God’s grace, identify and get rid of these dark parts in our lives, I am convinced, in accordance with the promise of God’s word, that we can enjoy lives that are full of light, and we can shine brightly for our Saviour even in this dark world.

So I can think of dark parts in my life, maybe you can think of dark parts in yours, and odds are they immediately come to mind, so then it becomes an issue of whether you want to do something about them or not. But be aware, that until that darkness is out, you’ll never truly shine. God wants the whole of you, not a percentage of you. And if your life is showing both light and darkness, that’s a confusing message for this world. Remember, not just your life is at stake, but so are others who your life influences. So let us all prayerfully consider what Jesus was saying about “having no part dark” and let us look to the true Light, the Lord Jesus Christ, to liberate us with the light of his life in our lives!

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