The Light Is On! Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: The Light Is On! ------------------- Date: 2/5/2002 Keywords: "darkness" "light" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. We're currently studying one of the Apostle Paul’s great prayers, found in Colossians 1. This prayer, for spiritual growth for his readers, is tailor-made for men and women who wrestle with — and sometimes fail in — a chronic temptation to use pornography. God bless you! Passage: Colossians 1:9-14* 9. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10. so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11. strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12. giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son 14. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Questions 1. What deliverance does Paul describe in verse 13?   2. What "darkness" do you think he is referring to?   3. If a believer in Jesus is no longer in the darkness, where is he/she?   Practical help At the risk of sounding melodramatic, darkness can be a terrifying place to be! When in the dark, we don’t know where we are going. We don’t know what is going to come up and grab us. We are unable to see our surroundings. We can’t get our bearings. We are vulnerable to attack in the darkness in ways we are not when we are in the light. Before placing faith in Jesus, we each lived in the world of spiritual darkness. All the things that are true about a person wandering around in a dense forest in the middle of a cloudy night were true about our spiritual state. We were lost, disoriented, heading in foolish directions. Then, God shined the light of the Gospel on our lives, and we discovered direction, and beauty and escaped the shackles of fear. The Kingdom of Jesus is the Kingdom of light. Paul’s point in couching his prayer for his readers in Colossians 1 in terms of light and darkness is this: It only makes sense (tragically!) when unsaved people rush headlong into sinfulness. They are in the domain of the dark. (Want to enter Jesus' Kingdom of light? Click here to find out how.) However, Christians have had their eyes opened to the foolishness of sin and to the damage sin causes. The Christian knows that it was sin that caused Jesus to have to die for his sin. The Christian sees eternity’s blessings ahead and should be able to put off sinful pleasures in the now. Next time you are tempted to click on porn, remember — the light is on. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." -