Where Do You Stand?

My friend/brother gave me a book called, The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanski. If you love baseball, these stories are absolutely fantastic. Your love for the game will grow. Be warned, though, because you may simultaneously grow frustrated with Buck O’Neil being omitted from the MLB HoF before he passed away (posthumously honored). Give that link a look, and see if you don’t smile (or cry). There’s a story in the book about Cool Papa Bell. Satchel Paige said Cool Papa Bell was so fast that he could turn off the light switch and be in bed before it got dark! I daresay most of us are not that fast. That means we are either in the light, or we are in the dark.

Check this out. Genesis 1:1-4 (NASB) reads:

The Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

Darkness and silence. That was it. Then, God spoke the world into existence before creating light. Think about this. Mental health-wise, darkness messes with us. If some of us deal with grey gloom for long periods, it affects our moods. Darkness is symbolic for sin. Sin in my view is like behavior that is self-focused and immoral. Sometimes, non-believers get into this mindset that Christians are perfect or don’t make mistakes or sin or do the right thing.

Let me be clear: THIS IS FAR FROM THE CASE!

I screw up every single day. The difference for me is I don’t want to do those old behaviors anymore. I want to be different. Besides, perfection happened once, Jesus Christ.

This past Sunday, our pastor preached from Genesis 1 and touched on those verses and others. It hit me then. We are either in the Dark, or we’re in the Light. We’re not like Cool Papa Bell. I have a family member gifted with thinking in terms of black and white. As a counselor, I’m more of a “shades of grey” kind of guy myself, so this kind of thinking can be challenging to me. But quite simply, we’re in the Light of the Lord, or we’re not.

John 8:12 reads (boldness added for emphasis):

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

John 14:6 reads (boldness added for emphasis):

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Our job as Christ-followers isn’t conversion. Our job is seed-planting. We try to live the life of Christ out loud for others to see. We relate our stories of how Jesus has changed us through our relationship with Him. Rest assured, we fail. We screw things up. We aren’t perfect. My encouragement to you is read the Bible. See for yourself. Consider Jesus.

(This is written at the time of the biggest winter weather watch of 2026. Stay warm.)

God bless and amen.

#Jesus #light #dark #eitheror #notboth