Men Agapao Darkness
John 3:19 NASB
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into
the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their
deeds were evil.
Jesus teaches
here that men love darkness more than light.
He’s referring to the spiritual darkness brought by sin in our
lives. He came to us as light, but the
people who live in sin don’t want light, they want darkness. More than want darkness, they desire the
darkness.
The Greek
language has several different words for “love,” and this can be confusing
since we only have the one word: love. “Eros”
means passionate love. This word is used
to describe a physical desire and means intimate love. “Philia” means affectionate regard or friendship. The love of life-long friends would be this
kind of love. “Storge” means affection
like a parental affection for a child.
And then the word we hear a lot of, “Agapao,” which means a deeper love
– a true love that requires a strong word to describe a strong emotion. We often think agapao is a God-given love, but
that’s not the case. Agapao is used in John
3:16 to tell us that God so LOVED the world and many other places, but it’s
also used in this verse, and tells us that men loved (agapao) the darkness more
than light.
Literally here we can say men desire the
darkness with a strong affection and love the things of the darkness. Agapao is the strongest term for love we can
use and that is what Jesus is trying to tell us about people who are not
saved. When we go out into the world, we
are amazed at the things the unsaved will do.
But we need to remember to see what they do in the light of this
verse. They will do evil things and like
evil things and allow evil things in their lives because they love (agapao)
darkness more than the light. People
living in darkness not only don’t know what God wants for their lives, but they
are actually opposed to Him and to His love.
A person in a very dark room when a bright light is turned on will shy
away from the light and cover their eyes.
This same thing happens to a soul living in the darkness of sin when
they are confronted with the light of the Gospel.
Ever face a
strong, negative reaction to your attempt to witness to someone? You are experiencing their enmity towards
God. Just as it is easy for you to love
God and desire to do His commandments; they are opposed to God and find it easy
to sin and desire to do evil. Do not
take their attitude to heart! It is not
you they hate but the light that is in you.
It is not you they are rejecting but the message of the Gospel you
bring.
The darkness is
great but the light of God can break that darkness and bring light to the most
hardened heart. Do not give up hope and
quit witnessing. Don’t hide your light
under a cover. Keep witnessing the
Gospel and keep praying that God will give you the words you need to bring light
to one who is living in darkness.
Stephen Cram June 2,
2013
Beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition
of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with
Christ. Colossians 2:8
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