Ruby’s in Paris – Thoughts on Chapter 7

2013/December by Marji Laine 2 Comments

Today is MY TURN! Yea! I sent Ruby to the City of Light!

Woohoo! Today is my turn! Scroll down for the Pinterest Game Picture! Hope you’re doing well with that! You can bet I’m playing along!

• If you haven’t read today’s chapter, my chapter, go check it out on the Write Integrity Press blog.
• It’s game time! Join us in A Ruby Christmas Pinterest game.  Find today’s link at Ruby’s special Pinterest board or use this direct link to take you to the streets of Paris – at least a picture! You know you want to play! The prize of $400 in books goes to the winner! (Scroll to the bottom to view my copy of today’s contest picture!)
• Enjoy my special devotion below and a different points of view at Fay Lamb’s Inner Source and Phee Paradise’s Delighted Meditations. (Yes, all different!)
• Check out a letter from Ruby all the way from France!

I’ll hope you’ll visit these blogs and leave me a message!

Ah. Paris. The City of Light. You know light isn’t seen very well unless it’s surrounded by darkness. Light a satellite picture of the United States. The cities stand out much better in a nighttime picture than in one taken by day.

Think of a nighttime satellite picture as if it was a spiritual satellite. Each little pinpoint of light is a heart for God holding the flame of His Spirit. What would your “neighborhood” look like? Would your light shine bright and inspire others to light up? Would it attract those already glowing or does it barely flicker in the darkness surrounding it?

Be encouraged. If you’re light is part of a growing city on a hill, great job. But if it is struggling in a dark place, great opportunity. There’s nothing like pitch blackness to amplify every twinkle of light, so start sparking and shine on.

As I thought about darkness, I discovered several different types of spiritual darkness. You may have others. Please share them in the comments!

Self-Deception

I’m one of those lights. Living in the Bible belt, folks wouldn’t think I lived around the darkness, but everyplace holds its own special type of blindness. In my area, it’s the self-deception type. “Everyone’s going to heaven because God loves us.” Or “I’m a Christian because I go down to the church on Sunday.” This is a particularly dangerous darkness because these are folks who have heard the Word of God. They just haven’t really listened to what He says.

Apathy

This is another dangerous version of darkness. These people might be willing to believe in God, but they don’t want to put any effort into making a decision about living their lives for Him, or accepting His Son as their savior. “Let me think about this for a little while.” (That’s a seed just waiting to be smuggled away by some conniving bird!)

Hostility

This darkness can be painful to the believer, but a person passionately opposed to God can become a passionate proclaimer of truth when they realize Christ’s love for them.

Ignorance

There is a lot more of this darkness in America than we realize. The people suffering from this blindness have no idea of their malady and just wait for someone to enlighten them.

Religiosity

This darkness bears such bondage. Those chained in the shackles of this type of lifestyle are begging for the freedom that Christ offers, and they don’t even realize it.

I wanted so badly to show a video at this point of a song I learned years ago. It so speaks to this message, but I guess it’s not nearly as popular as I thought it was. The words, from my feeble memory went something like this:

Just one little flame in the darkness. Just one small flicker of light. Just one tiny glimmer of brightness dispelling the darkness of night. But, oh, what God did to the darkness with one little flicker of light. Oh, what He did with its brightness when it touched just one other light. No longer one light in the darkness. No longer just one tiny flame. Now the whole world’s aglow with His brightness since the Light of the World, Jesus came.

The song ends with a repeat of my favorite line: Oh what God did to the darkness! Can you hear the angels whisper that? I admit it inspires me.

Your Turn: What type of darkness do you see most often? What can you do to dissolve it?