A Lamp Shining in a Dark Place
by Liz Griffin
It seems that each new day brings us unwelcome news of evil, suffering, and all manner of disasters in the world. Even in Christian circles we hear reports of bad news. Two Christian commentators were discussing news of false teaching in the Church today, and they concluded that the only answer for individual Christians was personal faithfulness and holiness while the world falls apart around them.
How relevant the second letter of the apostle Peter is to us today! He was writing to fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and saying they had been given precious promises, which enabled them to be like Jesus, and to escape ‘the world’s corruption caused by human desires’. He went on to say, ‘In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises’ (2 Peter 1:4 & 5).
He urged them to practise moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and love for everyone, saying, ‘The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 1:8). Peter knew that they were already standing firm in the truth they had been taught, but he was eager to keep on reminding them as long as he could. He knew his time on earth was short and wanted them to always remember these things after he was gone.
He was especially privileged, with James and John, to be an eye witness of the glorious transfiguration of our Lord Jesus on the mountain, when they had heard God say, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy” (2 Peter 1:16-18). For him, and the other apostles, it confirmed everything that the prophets had written about in the Bible. He said, ‘Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts’ (2 Peter 1:16 &19).
It would be easy to become despondent about all the bad news that we hear, but I take encouragement from the words of Peter. His letter was written at a time of great suffering for Christians. Until our Lord Jesus comes for the second time, we also are to patiently endure the spiritual darkness around us, and do our best to walk by the light of the words of Scripture, which is our lamp shining in a dark place.
We are to make every effort to respond to God’s precious promises to us, and behave in righteous, Christ-like ways. We will be accountable to God for our decisions and choices. It is vital that all our relationships are good, respectful, kind, and loving.
Liz Griffin lived for 20 years as an expatriate in South Africa, Bahrain and Japan, as her husband Paul worked for an international oil company. Paul and Liz became involved with Ellel Ministries in 1991 as part of the ministry team and joined the full-time team at Ellel Grange in 1995. Paul and Liz teach and minister to those seeking healing in their lives and together have written two books, 'Anger - How Do You Handle It' and 'Hope and Healing For The Abused'.
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