By Pastor Doug Cox

I have to say I have been enjoying the incremental increase of sunlight we are experiencing every day. I don’t know how I would do living in a place like Alaska where it stays dark for so long. Juneau shortest day is 6 hours and 22 minutes. Fairbanks has 3 hours and 42 minutes and Utqiagvik (Barlow) has 67 days of darkness. That would be tough for me to handle. Bitter cold and darkness can cause depression in me especially if I don’t deliberately keep my head right.

Interestingly, getting your head right is a Biblical mandate. The apostle Paul warns Christians that if they don’t deal with their former mindset they can be alienated from the life of God. He says, “With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ.” (Ephesians 4:17-20 NLT)

Notice all the pitfalls of having a worldly mindset. That person will have confusion, dark thoughts, a life separated from God, a hardened heart and shamelessness. They will be driven by lust for pleasure into impurity, none of which is condoned by the Lord Jesus.

Paul goes on saying “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and holy.” (Ephesians 4:21-24 NLT) The NKJV says it like this in verse 23. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” In other words, get your head right.

Can you see the dilemma? Wrong thoughts are containers of darkness, and because we are living in an age where spiritual darkness is increasing it is more important than ever to keep our thoughts in line with God’s thoughts. Jesus tells us in Luke 11:34-36 that “the lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore, take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

Prayer – Lord Jesus, as we go into this New Year, help us keep our eyes on You and Your word. Help us have soft and open hearts so we can be vessels of light that shine forth Your life and light in the dark world we live in.