Two days ago was my daughter Jessica’s 6th birthday party. She chose an eclectic theme—duck cake, princess plates and decorations, and rainbow invitations. She wore a sparkly pink “Birthday Girl” shirt, and she wanted her hair put in “dog ears” (otherwise known in the part of the country where I grew up as “pony tails”).
I should have known better than to do her hair in my bedroom, where the light isn’t as bright as in other parts of the house. But that’s where I was when she found me and brought me the hairbrush. So I arranged her hair in one “dog ear” on each side of her head. She looked in the mirror and grinned.
All was well, until I saw her hair when she came into the kitchen as I stood at the counter working on making her birthday cake. Her hair looked…well, messy. The dog ears were slightly uneven, and I had missed some hair in the back. It was definitely not a party-ready hairstyle.
Fortunately, my husband wasn’t busy at the moment, so he fixed my work. He did quite a good job of it, too—much better than the I had done. Jessica bounded off to play, her hair looking just right.
It looked okay back in the bedroom, I thought to myself. But it hadn’t been fine. It had only looked that way because there wasn’t enough light to see clearly. Or perhaps I simply hadn’t been paying enough attention when I did her hair.
It’s the same way with our actions. Some of what we do, say, and think looks perfectly fine when we don’t look too closely. When we keep our actions in the dark. But when those actions are exposed—in other words, whenever we’re forced to look right at them—they look like a mess.
In John 3:20-21, Jesus told Nicodemus all about this principle. “People who do evil things don’t like the light,” Jesus said (I’m paraphrasing). “That’s because they don’t want others to know what they’ve been doing. But when people do what is right, they’re glad to come to the light.”
Is there some action, thought, or attitude that you’re trying to keep in the dark so you don’t have to look closely at it? So you don’t have to see how messy it really is? So you don’t have to realize how ugly it is and do something about it?
Go before God and ask Him to give you the courage to bring it into the light. Then look at it with Him, agree with Him that it’s wrong, and repent. In other words, turn away from it and strike out on a new path.
If I had left Jessica’s hair the way it was, people at the party would definitely have noticed. With sin, if we leave it just as it is (in the dark) and refuse to deal with it, eventually someone will notice. And even if no one ever does, God knows all about it.
Get your sin dealt with today. Make it right before God and, if necessary, before others. Let God’s light shine upon it so He can wipe it away and completely, perfectly, beautifully forgive you—and then help you walk away from it.
John 3:20-21—For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.