Take Back Your Life: Thinking Right So You Can Live RightSample

Turn Off the Dark

When we say, “turn on the light,” we generally don’t think about darkness being deactivated. Jesus turns off the darkness of loneliness, guilt, despair, and fear, but He also turns off the darkness of death—our last and greatest enemy. Death punched our family in the gut when our second-born daughter, Lenya Avery Lusko, had an asthma attack that stopped her breathing and then her heart. We couldn’t bring her back; the ER doctors couldn’t bring her back. Holding her in my arms, Lenya went from our lives to the arms of her heavenly Father. 

It hurt like hell. It was scary. It was sad. It was dark, but we weren’t alone in that darkness. God was there. He gave us peace. He gave us hope. He gave us strength. And He continues to give us strength as we move forward, one day at a time. We learned that Jesus came to turn off the darkness of death so we can live with hope and die without fear. As He turns off the dark all around us, what we see in the light changes everything.

Now hurting with hope still hurts. I’ve learned that God hurts and grieves alongside me (see John 11:1–44). He is furious about death—angry enough to do something about it. Jesus defeated death, Satan’s most powerful weapon, in the most unlikely way ever—by dying (see Hebrews 2:14). But the power wasn’t just in dying; anyone can do that. Jesus didn’t just die—His soul reentered His decaying body and He got up! Unbelievably, He offers this same casket-exploding power to anyone who believes.

This is the gospel. Jesus has come and death has been stripped of its power. The dark has been switched off forever (see Colossians 2:15). Instead of being terrified, we can actually look at death victoriously. But, you ask, why do we still have to die? For something that’s been abolished, it seems as though business is booming. True, but remember this: God’s not finished yet. The final destruction of death hasn’t happened yet, but it will. I will see and hold Lenya again. Our faith works in the fire, not just when life is fun, because we trust in the one who said that He is the resurrection and the life. He took the keys from death and hell, was dead, and now lives forever. His name is Jesus, and He always leads us in triumph! 

God wants you to have forgiveness, a relationship with Him, and heaven. The Bible promises that if you declare that Jesus is Lord and believe that He rose from the dead, you will be saved (see Romans 10:9). A prayer that basic, if prayed in faith, has the power to change your heart and save your soul forever. In fact, you could say something like that to God right now as you’re reading and be transformed from the inside out. If you never have, I pray that you will! Jesus can turn off the dark in your heart as you trust Him and place your hope, day by day, in Him.

Respond

In what ways does darkness encroach on your life? 

What does it mean to you that Jesus has defeated darkness and death? How have you responded to what Jesus, God in the flesh, has done for you?

What can the light of hope in Jesus transform in your life?