I have read of people who first encountered Jesus in their adult years and expressed gladness in not becoming a Christian earlier in their life. Their reasoning is that, if they had become a Christian earlier, they would not have been able to experience the difference between life without God and life with God. We who are believers recognize the obvious fallacy in this line of thinking and understand that the sooner we experience life with God, the better. We are created to live in a relationship with God and experience His daily love and presence.


The shocking atrocities committed by Isis – beheading and crucifixion of innocent victims, widespread abuse of children, the terrible evil of human trafficking, modern-day slavery, and the daily killing of unborn defenseless babies are all examples of the dark world we live in today. But, with God, light can drive out darkness.


The 19th chapter of Judges is one of the most disheartening chapters in the Bible to read as it vividly describes the unimaginable terrible and distressing account of the evil excesses of a lawless land. Israel was in a dark period of its history and living in the worst possible scenario. Even though the people were called to walk in a close relationship with God, they were not living under the kingship of the Lord and did not even have a human king to keep order and restrain the chaos. They instead turned to idol worship as we read in Judges 18:30-31, “And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.” 


The appalling rape, abuse, and dissection of a woman presented in Judges 19 caused everyone who saw it to say, “There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” This was a time of utter darkness, of life without God. Terrible as this atrocity was, it is not unique in the history of the world. Appalling atrocities can happen when a society rejects God and His laws.


Darkness is not only the night but also the forces of evil that can seduce us and lead us away from walking towards the light of life – Jesus who brings light into this dark world. In John 8:12 Jesus says, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” As Martin Luther King put it, ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.’ As adult believers, we should impress upon our children and grandchildren the joy and blessings of a fulfilled life in knowing Jesus as their personal Savior at an early age. The Sooner, the Better!