Despite the darkness around us – and the darkness still seeming to linger inside us – the greater reality is that the light of God in his Son has shone. And the darkness has not overcome it. And so we have hope.

I came across these lyrics recently:

We’re all fighters, holding up our lighters
Chasing off the monsters, drowning in our sins
With every last breath, try to stop the sunset
Running with the shadows, darkness always wins

Cheesy rhyming of ‘fighters’ and ‘lighters’ aside, something about them stuck with me. Before I came to Christ those sentiments felt uncomfortably true. And even now, for followers of Jesus, don’t we still feel the weight of the darkness around us? Think of world news, local news, the people and events around you, the pastoral situations of your local church. Or more simply, our own struggles and wrestles with sin – the darkness we feel inside.

Sometimes it really does feel like the darkness always wins.

I happened to be playing these lyrics while my tween daughter was in the room. She heard the last line and immediately retorted: “No it doesn’t!” Out of the mouths of babes!

She said exactly what we need to remember. Darkness around and inside may feel overwhelming. It may look victorious. But it doesn’t win.

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