Picture source (http://divinitymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/light-vs-dark.jpg)
The greatest battle I have ever seen was not in the image of war, the last few seconds of a championship game, the urges of an addict, or an illness within the mind.
The greatest battle I have ever seen is when someone gets a glimpse of the light. I once read an old story that gives some meaning to what I want to say.
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
“Some prisoners are chained inside of a cave, facing the back wall. Behind them is a fire, with people passing in front of it. The prisoners cannot turn their heads, and have always been chained this way. All they can see (and hear) are shadows passing back and forth (and the echoes bouncing off of) the wall in front of them.
One day, a prisoner is freed, and dragged outside of the cave. He is blinded by the light, and confused, and resists being led outside. But, eventually his eyes adjusts so that he able to see the things around him, and even the sun itself.
He comes to realize that the things he thought were real were merely shadows of real things, and that life outside of the cave is far better than his previous life in chains.
He pities those still inside. He ventures back into the cave to share his discovery with the others—only to be ridiculed because he can hardly see (his eyes have trouble at first re-adjusting to the darkness) and violently resisted (the other prisoners refuse to be freed and led outside, and even try to kill him).”
Picture Source (https://fireinme.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FIME_The_Allegory_Of_The_Cave_Illustration.jpg)
The prisoners in the dark are like those in the world who are without God.
Acts 26:18 ESV
To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
1 John 1:5 ESV
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
The prisoners can only see the shadows of what is real. Chasing the shadow within the mind only in hopes of catching the fleeting emotion that the shadow brings. The shadow stirs up hope, joy, love, peace, or excitement but quickly fades as the darkness returns. The prisoners cling to the false reality of pleasure in the shadows.
Hebrews 8:5 ESV
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”
God’s attributes are manifested in His creation; we see and experience these in all things good like love, joy, peace, kindness, justice, etc. But they are only a shadow of what is to come once the darkness will be no more.
The greatest battle happens once the prisoner gets a glimpse of the light. The mind will fight you back into submission, the body will fight you back into desire, the forces of darkness will fight to stir doubt, and others will try to pull you back to living in the dark and enjoying the fleeting goodness of the shadows.
Satan wants to try and mimic the goodness of God by distorting the reality of God’s design. The shadows give us a false sense and a misplaced emotional response to what God meant for good. The shadows of sex, money, and power are distorted to take something not bad in design but only provide a disintegrating feeling of emotion only to disappear back into darkness and leave you with the desire for the shadows once more.
Ephesians 5:8 ESV
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
Once you find the light and become children of light, those in the world will not understand until they can, within the faith, take the steps needed to see the truth. Some will even think you are crazy, but out of love, we are willing to go back into the cave to try and save others who are entrapped and captivated by the shadows on the wall.
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