Our World Needs the Light of Christ

When you walk into a dark room, you reach for the light switch to turn on the light so there will be less darkness. No one reaches for the “dark switch” to turn down the dark; that’s impossible. There is no “dark switch” in any room. You cannot turn dark up and down; you can only turn light up and down. The light overcomes the darkness. We understand that simple principle in a dark room, but we sometimes forget it in our culture.

We live in a dark time with low morals, high debt, rising violence and growing anger in our society, communities and politics. It’s the perfect time for God’s light to shine in the deep darkness.

The Apostle John taught us 2,000 years ago in his Gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Light is not an absence of darkness; darkness is an absence of light. Our angry culture doesn’t need less darkness, it needs more light. We can’t just work to get people to do fewer bad things or get rid of bad people, we have to add light if we want our world to change.

Sometimes followers of Jesus get so angry about the darkness in our society that we find ourselves complaining about the darkness more than turning up the light. I don’t think our nation needs more people whining and complaining about government and our culture. Yelling at the people on TV who are yelling doesn’t actually make things better. We need people who will set the example for what is good and right to show other people what is better, not just what is bad. Honestly, if we complain about our nation more than we pray for our nation, there is a good chance we are out of balance. If we want things to get better, we can’t just yell at the darkness, we have to turn up the light.

To be clear, in our nation there is plenty of injustice, hatred, division and anger. We have a record number of families breaking apart, children raising themselves, rising crime and growing apathy. The open border policies of the past few years have welcomed people who want a better job and it has welcomed people who want to criminally exploit Americans. Drugs are flowing into the United States at a rate never seen. Over 100,000 Americans lost their lives to a drug overdose in the past year. Homelessness continues to increase. Government spending seems to never stop. We have to find a way to live within our means and stop wasting taxpayer dollars. The darkness just seems to keep growing.

Paul reminded us in Titus 3:3-5: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

God did not just tell us to stop doing bad things. His kindness and forgiveness gave us a fresh start and guided us to what is right and good.

We can’t do everything, but we can each be a part of turning around individuals, as well as our culture and our politics. First, we have to get involved ourselves and stop waiting for Washington to fix every problem.

We can help end the scourge of drug addiction, broken families and childhood poverty. And now is our time to share the truth of Jesus Christ with others so they can also walk in the light.

When Nehemiah heard the news from his brother about the devastation in Jerusalem more than 2,400 years ago, he fell to his knees and prayed, for some days, asking God for wisdom to know what to do to help. He didn’t just complain about how bad things had become or wait on someone else to solve the problem, Nehemiah asked God to help him know what to do about the problems. He prayed, and then he got to work.

That’s a really good formula for today as well. Most of the work rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem was done by people who already lived in Jerusalem. In other words, each family worked on rebuilding the devastated city wall close to their house. When each family worked on what was close by, together they rebuilt what had been destroyed years earlier.

God has placed you in a certain family, with a certain group of friends at a certain time and place for a reason. The light of Christ is needed: right where you are, right now.

The problems of our society and nation should cause us to respond like Nehemiah. We should pray earnestly and ask God to help us know our part in making things better for our family, community and nation, and for turning up the light in a dark world. ©2025 James Lankford

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version.

James Lankford is a United States senator from Oklahoma and author of the new book Turnaround: America’s Revival.