When the sun is shining in all its strength, the light of a candle can scarcely be seen. One day, a miner took me into a coal mine sunk deep into the earth. Exodus 10:21 tells us “there was darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” To many this may seem to be only a figure of speech, but in the mine that day, it was very real. Then the miner lit the tiny light on his helmet. The power of that little light was overwhelming.
We live in a very dark night. The darkness is so deep that even our feeble light of testimony can shine very brightly. This is especially true in the area of marriage, home, and family. In contrast to the darkness around, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt 5:16).
It is becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend the depth of shame that is evident in modern society. Can it be that anyone in their right senses can accept a marriage bond between two people of the same gender? Romans chapter one clearly states that “God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient … who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom 1: 28, 32). This latter statement sums up a depth of evil that exceeds anything known in past ages. Men have always been sinful. This is not by degree, it is total. Then how can our age be more sinful? The exceeding sinfulness of this day lies not in sinful acts that are acknowledged to be sinful, but in trying to make right the things that are so obviously wrong. God has said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20).
A Christian husband and wife can be a powerful testimony by contrast. Do our children and even our neighbors sense that we are deeply devoted to each other, that our lives are pure and our love and care are genuine? Our little candle may not be very bright, but the darkness around us is almost impenetrable.
In view of laws that are currently being debated, we need to pray earnestly that God will preserve to us some sense of the moral order that was given to man in the beginning. It is very significant that the Lord Jesus went back to creation in His teaching about marriage: “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?” (Matt 19:4-5).
Not only is it true that “… two, saith He, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor 6:16-17). If the verses that follow are obeyed, we will be lights in the darkness of this age; “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (verses 19-20).
