“It’s all inside” is a popular slogan from one American retailer. Although it might sound good and maybe even help sell a few sweaters, in reality nothing could be further from the truth. Is everything we need for life really inside? Yes, our bodies have a variety of organs, most of which are inside, all working together to sustain our physical life. So technically, we could say that without the stuff inside we couldn’t be physically alive. Yet there is much more necessary than what’s on the inside.
The body can only live several weeks without food and several days without water. We cannot survive for more than several minutes without oxygen before brain damage will most likely occur. Our ears are designed to capture external sounds and eyes to draw in light radiating from without, not from within. It’s as if the designer of the human body is carefully and repeatedly reminding us that even though our bodies are self-contained, they are far from self-sustained. We clearly need things from outside of ourselves, and although no one would disagree with this, the same cannot be said for the spiritual side of life. Sadly, too many have been blinded by the misguided belief that all the answers we need for spiritual life are found within.
Growing up, I can recall numerous times being told that I must simply look within for my answers. Over the years, so many movies, songs, video games, and teachings have delivered the same erroneous message, “If you want to know reality, begin by looking inside.” I can’t remember ever stopping to ask one simple question – “How do you know?” How is it that people know for sure they can accurately search within to discover the mysteries of eternity? When asked this question, most might answer one of two ways. The first is based on emotion, “It just feels right.” The second is based on a majority, “Many people I trust believe the same way.” There are numerous problems with both of these reasons. Just because if feels good, doesn’t mean it’s true, and just because many people believe something doesn’t mean it’s reality.
According to the true Word of God, men are not the answer. There is nothing inside of us that will supply anything illuminating. Just as we cannot emanate physical light from inside, so it is that we are unable to find true spiritual light from within.
Carefully consider a few verses:
- “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
- “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.” Mark 7:15
- “There is none good but one, that is, God…” Matthew 19:17
- “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19
- “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23
So if we cannot find the light from within, then where does one go to receive the true light?
The answer is not found in where to go, but to whom. To all who have ears to hear, this is what the Word of God says concerning the Lord Jesus Christ:
- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” John 1:1-5, 9,10
- “This then is the message which we have heard of Him [Jesus], and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5
- “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, “I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
BUYER BEWARE-
Not all claiming to be light are actually true light. Jesus said of Satan that his ministers appear as servants of light, yet they lead people into further darkness. There is light that is actually spiritual darkness. Consider the following verses:
- “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness…” 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
- “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6::23
- “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44
Within is only darkness. We cannot look within for answers on eternity anymore than I can look within to be physically fed or to breathe air. Jesus Christ, the true light from Heaven, entered this dark world to bring the truth. His light reveals our own sinful, rebellious nature and the true light of God’s judgment and justice. Praise God, He also brought the light of His love and forgiveness found in the full and free sacrifice for all mankind found in Jesus Christ alone. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
May we humble ourselves and approach God’s true light, realizing that our complete and utter dependence is upon Him, not ourselves!
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