The Problem of the Dim Light
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
The Problem of the Dim Light
Greetings, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. Today, we ponder our lives as we consider the problem of the dim light.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Problem of the Dim Light
Jesus said," Let them alone: They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew, Chapter 15, Verse 14.
Brothers and sisters, this morning we consider the problem of the dim light; Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of light.” And yet there are still many who walk by a dim light or no light at all. Lets consider these two short analogies to help us grasp the heart of the problem of the dim light
Once there were two hard working brothers. Through persistent effort, they had amassed quite a fortune. One evening while reflecting on ways to acquire even greater wealth, the idea occurred to one of the brothers that if they could expand their labor to include the night hours, they could really increase their wealth.
It so happened that a road was in the process of being constructed around a rugged mountain. They convinced the contractor of the project that if he would subcontract this job to them, they could complete this job twice as fast as the time scheduled. They explained to him that they proposed to work on this project at night, utilizing artificial light in the place of sunlight.
Work began on the project immediately. Batteries and generators were brought in to provide electricity for the generation of the light. Things appeared to be going quite well for awhile until one night there was a sudden storm which shut down the generators. The lights dimmed, and finally went out. All of sudden the entire work site became engulfed in darkness. Pandemonium broke out as disaster struck. The drivers of the heavy equipment, unable to see slid off the side of the mountain to greet their physical death.
There was another fellow who had own ideas of becoming successful. He refused to trust his own experiences, always blaming his failures on someone else. He refused to listen to those who had already traveled the ground he was trying to cover. He distrusted other people's advice, since whenever he talked to them, their advice was always the opposite of what he had in mind. But he did not get too far with this attitude. Here was a fellow who refused to hear the voice of wisdom, and even ignored the voice of experience.
Finally he went into seclusion to mediate on how to reach his goal. When he arrived at the conclusion of his thinking, it was revealed that he considered his goal to be of supreme importance to himself, if not to anybody else. He knew that if he openly acknowledged this goal, he could expect little help. So he said, "I will pretend to take the advice of my friends, but I will secretly pursue my own goals.”
“And when my friends point out my inconsistencies between what I say and what I do, I will simply say that I am sorry, and that I am trying. And if they lose patience with my conniving and manipulating ways, I will act as if I do not care, and pretend to be offended. And having no more use of them, I will erase them from my life. And when I have achieved my goals, then I will try to do things the right way.”
“And besides if none of this work, and I stand to lose all the things that I have acquired through these unfair and unjust methods, I will throw myself on my friends’ mercy, and beg their forgiveness. You know since they follow Jesus, they will have to forgive me, even seventy times seven. This way I can lay low and bide my time until I can get what I want, and I will get what I want sooner or later, even if I am destroyed in the process. Besides if I chose to, I can always repent at the last minute."
Brothers and sisters, if we walk by a dim light, we can not see too well. A dim light never shows things the way they truly are. The human light of self righteousness is very dim. The Father's light of divine righteousness is very bright. But the Father's light can not shine very brightly through the human heart when it must shine through the clouds of selfishness, pride, envy, jealousy, fear, bitterness, anger, and hatred. And neither can the Father's light shine brightly when the faith switch is turned off by doubt, insincerity and lack of interest.
If we feel that our self righteous light is adequate, there simply is no incentive to turn on the divine light. How can we remove these evil influences? These evil influences can only be removed by the Father's love, the Son's mercy, and the Spirit's ministry. It is only by humbling ourselves and recognizing these evil influences for what they are, and submitting them to the transforming power of the Father's love, the Father’s will, that they can be eliminated from our souls.
We must seek forgiveness, for forgiveness not only pardons these evil influences, but divine forgiveness actually abolishes them. And we can receive this forgiveness just to the extent that we are willing to forgive our brothers and sisters for their misdeeds. The Spirit of Truth empowers us to forgive those who have wronged us. And as we do this, the Father's light of divine righteousness grows brighter and brighter while the human light of self righteousness grows dimmer and dimmer, and finally diminishes all together.
This concludes today’s message on the problem of the dim light. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
