I am looking very forward to Daylight Savings Time (March 14th for those who may not be aware). When the sun stays out longer, I seem to be more productive with my life! During the months where it’s dark outside by 5:30 pm and the sun is finished for the day, so am I. There’s something about daylight that keeps me motivated and energized. The darkness is not motivating. As a matter of fact, the darkness can be debilitating, even depressing at times. I find myself zapped of energy and in a rut pretty quickly during the months of shorter days. By the time I get home from work and it is already dark, I do my normal “get home from work” routine then, you can usually find me curled up on the sofa pretty early in the evening until it’s time to for bed. Darkness has a way of bringing down my mood, sucking all the motivation right out of me, convincing me that it’s okay to call it quits early and ignore things that are important that need attention.
But then, after a few months, the sun starts to hang out a little while longer. I find myself with a tad more energy. I start to add things to my “get home from work” routine. I MAY even find a little motivation to take a walk or do something outside after work. I start to dig my way out of the rut I’ve been in and start to be a little more productive with my life. And usually by the time Daylight Savings Time rolls around, I’m back! I’m motivated, I have new found energy, and I’m out of the nightly rut!
Our spiritual lives are the same way. When we are living in the light of Jesus, we are productive, motivated, energized! We are doing the thing! But sometimes along the way, the enemy creeps into our thoughts and plants seeds of doubt just like he did with Eve in the Garden. In Genesis 3:1, we read how he planted doubt by asking, “Did God actually say…”. That’s all it took! This started Eve’s questioning the Word of God. This questioning led to sin and separation and darkness. What Eve ultimately believes by giving in to temptation, is that there is something about the character of God that is not fully trustworthy. The enemy still does this. His tactics haven’t changed since the garden and unfortunately, humans haven’t changed either. When we fully believe God is Who He says He is, and we live in the full confidence that we are who He says we are, we are living in the light of Jesus and it is good! The enemy doesn’t like it one bit either. So, he goes to work, planting seeds of doubt which can ultimately result in us turning to the darkness. Living apart from God. We find ourselves ultimately questioning his character. The longer we let this go on, the more we find ourselves unproductive, un-energized, un-motivated, and finally diving head first in to the rut!
If you have found yourself lately living in the darkness of doubt, ask God to help you out! Ask Him to remind you that He is trustworthy. That He is Who He says He is and you are who He says you are. Read Scripture. Talk to other Christ followers. Be encouraged because The Time is about to change and it’s Time for you to change as well!