DEEDS OF DARKNESS

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 5:11 (NASB77) ¹¹  And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

The darkest deed Satan ever had in his arsenal was to kill the Son of Man on the death stake. This victory overGod caused the fallen angels to rejoice that Lucifer was the prevailing king of the universe. How could He have gotten that low in His miserable existence.

For starters his only weapon is sin. Sin murdered our Savior in the worst manner ever conceived by man: crucifixion. Sinning results in death and that death results in an eternal dying in the flaming furnace reserved for those who have not stepped out of darkness into life.

The only action worse than sinning is teaching others to sin; you can do this by actual one on one lessons for sure. But many more learn by watching you allow others to sin without our intervention. When you do not rebuke and correct an active sinner, your absence of remedial correction endorses the sin and absolves the sinner. It’s a silent green light to go and likewise sin.

Akin to teaching others to sin is tempting them to sin. Nothing tempts more than a successful sinner flaunting the treasure of his evil deeds. Just seeing a fallen man basking in the glory of his plunder provokes others to go and do likewise.

A hidden deed of darkness is when you know someone is up to no good and everyone else doe also and you don’t rebuke or correct the sinner, especially if they are professing believers. This lack of correction, this apathy toward the evil deed is perceived as an endorsement. Not doing something is something indeed. It’s joining you to the sin because you wouldn’t take acts against them.

So your sinful examples of hurting people, places, damaging things and burning bridges behind you has a  debt to pay and you will be the beneficiary of its consequences: a cross to carry. This consenting to sin is literally giving Jesus the finger! This includes tolerating the sin. How many lives have you destroyed because of your personal example?

Will you then put on the armor, lift up the sword and defent sin or pledge your life and fortune to the service of the King of Kings? The God of light not darkness: stop, stand still, turn around and come back to Jesus your Lord. Welcome home!