Rescued From Darkness

GOD HAS RESCUED US FROM THE DOMINION OF DARKNESS AND BROUGHT US INTO THE KINGDOM OF THE SON. Colossians 1.13.

Our Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship meetings and Dinners are highlighted by testimonies of businessmen. Many of them were saved from their former wicked and wild life of sin, common to the market place of this world. Their testimonies are powerful! These testimonies have helped many of their friends to find salvation through Jesus Christ.

Often you will hear some good old veteran telling his tale of a sordid past in such glowing description that makes one wonder whether he really loved his old sinful life very much! If one hadn’t been such a great sinner, one may feel sorry for himself for not having a thrilling testimony like theirs! Anyway, thank God, somehow their friends who are in similar pits of sin are rescued by the power and grace of the gospel.

Once, I saw a 911 Rescue program on TV. A man had jumped into the river above the Niagara Falls in his disappointment and distress, to commit suicide. But as he neared the thundering roar of the falls, its spray bellowing high above him and shivering in the freezing water of –55 degrees, he had second thoughts! He caught hold of a rock that jutted out of the tumultuous waves of the speeding river. A raft with ropes attached, thrown at him by rescuers was lost by the pull of the falls. A rescue helicopter appeared on the scene and lowered a crew. With great skill and daring they managed to get him to safety, taking an hour which seemed like eternity. Imagine that man sitting in his home that night and telling his family and friends about his miraculous rescue. What would you think of him if he had made slight of the rescue team and even made fun of the whole incident?

I was teaching a class on “Holiness in times of temptation” in a church. I invited written questions for the discussion. One anonymous note read, “I am a saved person. But I had sex with a girl. It was just a little fun! I still love the Lord!” I felt pity for that poor soul. I suddenly realised that it was far better and much safer ‘to exaggerate your sin and its awfulness than ‘belittling it and calling it fun’! God forbid!

In today’s text, the apostle Paul recounts the simple truth that ‘God saved us from our sin’. But he describes it in grave words of great magnitude and meaning. He said, “God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”. Dear friend, be filled with wonder and gratitude to God. You should never go back under the old dominion of darkness again!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, I was dead in my sins in which I used to live when I followed the ways of this world, gratifying the cravings of my sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. But because of Your great love for me and by Your mercy, You saved me by grace! I thank You Lord. Let me never go back into sin again! Amen.