At the beginning of September, when all the Halloween stuff hit the store (and some of the front yards where I live) I made two decisions. First, to hop right over Halloween and go straight to Thanksgiving. Second, that as I passed the “Halloween Homes” on my worship walk, I would praise and thank my LORD aloud! So far, that’s what I have been doing.
I was walking around a new section in our development last week and came across more “Halloween Homes.” When I began to praise, I was reminded why I just don’t like this holiday. Three things immediately came to mind.
The First: Darkness versus Light. What I first notice in the Halloween stores and home displays is the atmosphere of darkness. There is so much blackness. Even the celebrating is done at night, after the sun has set. To me, there is enough darkness in this world, creating more (or dressing our children in it) troubles my soul.
As a believer, I am a child of light. I hate the darkness of this world that manifests itself in the ways we treat each other, in the arrogance, and greed, in the power struggles and hatreds and prejudices. Evil loves the dark where it thinks it can remain hidden and its sins can have free reign. “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” [1 Thessalonians 5:5]
As believers, we no long live in darkness. Paul reminds us instead to thank our Father God “who has qualified [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” [Col 1:12-14]
My heart and my soul are forever grateful to God for the light of His Son. I never – ever – want to abide in that darkness again. Thank you, Precious Savior!
