A friend called my wife, Lori, to say she was troubled, and struggling to grasp any sense of order. She was watching the news, absorbing all that was going on in the world, and was overwhelmed. She saw the mayhem and divisiveness and reached out for encouragement.

The world is filled with mayhem and divisiveness— isn’t it? There is darkness all around us, dark spots on our souls—areas of doubt, anxiety, and overwhelming situations, areas hardened by disobedience and unconfessed sin. We need light in the darkness!

After Jesus had a showdown with Satan in the desert, he heard that his cousin, John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way for him, had been arrested. So, Jesus headed north and settled in Capernaum. In moving to the northern seaport, Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy that those living in that area, people in spiritual darkness, would see a great light. Isaiah wrote, “…for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16). There in that dark place, Jesus began his ministry with this message:

Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The theological truth of repentance is often left out of the “light in the darkness” conversation for fear that it may confuse the salvation message. The truth has been twisted to purport that a person must change before trusting Christ. Certainly, that teaching is errant theology, but so is leaving repentance out of the message. Look again at today’s verse. Repentance is what Jesus preached.

The theologian J. I. Packer explains that to repent means to change “one’s mind so that one’s views, values, goals, and ways are changed and one’s whole life is lived differently.”[1] A person is walking deeper and deeper into the darkness. Then, by God’s grace, they are shown the light and the way out of the darkness. As God works in their heart, the person understands that they are living in the dark and are ready to move to the light. Their views, values, goals, and ways have changed. The old ways are in the past; the new way is ahead. This person is a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I remember reading a story of a 1930s mobster who attended a crusade and professed to trust in Christ. When he continued his life of crime, he was confronted. He responded that when a baseball player says he’s a Christian, he continues to play baseball. Why couldn’t he continue his life of crime? We laugh at that story, but many who profess a trust in Christ follow the same path. Repentance calls for change, change that is brought on by the amazing grace of God. The apostle John said it this way:

1 John 1:6-7
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Father, help me be truly sorry for my sin against you and others. By your strength, allow me to produce the fruit that comes with desired, heart-felt change. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

[1] J. I. Packer, Concise Theology (Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 162.