Proverbs 4:18-19

I use to share this bit of scripture every time I was tell of the story of what God did in me, and for me back when I first became a christian. The passage was Proverbs 4:18-19 (esv)

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

I have come to appreciate this simple proverb more and more. I have tasted true darkness, but you know what I still taste it. It's like driving in a bad part of the city without working street lights, and crater sized potholes, you're afraid, the guys on the corner are looking for you. Life outside the light of the gospel, is full of danger and fear. When you have lied, to yourself, to others, and to God nothing you do can keep you from this anxiety and frustration, unless you are completely blind, and dead and God's mercy to this point has passed over you.

I don't speak from theory, I have tasted the dark side of life, the depression, the darkness, the hopelessness, once I was cut off from the people of God, without Him, and with out hope, alone in this world. But I thank God that I have been brought into this light, which starts only as the dawn, but grows more and more to noonday.

I appreciate the analogy of Pastor Doug, He speaks of getting converted as not simply 'getting out' which is the way we sometimes frame the whole thing. You get out of your sense of guilt, and the penalty of sin, you did your five years, here is 20 bucks, and a bus ride. Let's see how you do on your own.. Why do so many go right back to the way they were before?

We get saved 'into' something, into a community, a family. John Piper once said, sanctification is a community project. I say right on to that. Together we see the way to the land of the living.