Recently, I've been on a bit of a Green Lantern kick. Now, I know that there are some people who are ready to close down this page by now, but I sincerely hope that you will read this all the way through.
For those of you who are not that familiar with the Emerald Gladiator, Green Lantern is a character (in the DC Comics Universe) by the name of Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is picked to become the next intergalactic Guardian of his sector of space and most of his adventures focus on saving the planet Earth.
He (Green Lantern) takes his name from a lantern shaped device that gives power to a ring that he wears which enables him to fight crime, whether on a local or galactic level, with creations (constructs) made solely out of a green light which can take on any form; solid or not.
I've said all that to say this, when Green Lantern reaches the end of a 24 hour span, he needs to recharge his ring at the Power Battery (Lantern) and he recites an oath which goes like this:
"In brightest day,
In blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power---Green Lantern's Light!"
My whole point here is of course to bring in a spiritual application. We know that Jesus is the Light of the world, but we are to shine that light throughout the world every day! It shouldn't matter where we are or when it is, we should always be ready to give an accounting of the Lord.
1 Peter 3:15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"
It shouldn't matter if it is in "Brightest Day" or "Blackest Night", we should always be ready to shine the Light into the world.
The next line of the oath is one that I find interesting. "No evil shall escape my sight." That's quite a statement especially considering the world in which we live today. We are encouraged, nay, commanded by the world around us to turn a blind eye to anything that we don't agree with.
We are told not to rock the boat, don't make waves, and just go along to get along. We are told to ignore the evil rampaging around us, yet I believe that we should NOT turn a blind eye. We should NOT let evil escape our sight. In a world that is choosing to be blind, let us see things as they are.
Things ARE black and white when it comes to sin. Sin is sin, and there are no two ways about it. Anyone who knows me knows that I believe firmly in rejecting the sin but still loving the sinner. What I am talking about here is not just turning a blind eye and pretending that nothing is wrong. I'm talking about taking a stand against what is wrong and standing for what is right.
The last few lines go: "Let those who worship evil's might beware my power: Green Lantern's light." We need to remember where our power comes from. Our power comes from the Lord, the true Light in the Darkness. We can't do it on our own. We need to get back to the source of our power regularly to get recharged, refilled, and renewed by the love of God and precious communion with Him.
I want to point out though that when we are walking in the Light as we should be, and we are fresh and charged up by having spent time with God, then we should be ready to fight and work for Him. Yet so many times we want all the blessings that God has for us with none of the responsibilities. We want the power ring without the crime fighting.
We sit back, enjoy what God has for us, and I tell you, Satan and all those who worship evil's might look at us and laugh. If you haven't been attacked lately, if everything is sunshine and roses and you never have to rely on God to get you through, then I can pretty much guarantee that you are not a threat to the enemy which means that you are not being of benefit to the Lord.
It is time for us all to realize the great responsibility that we have as Christians. It is time that we start working for the Lord, fighting to do right and start shining the Light wherever we go.
Now, I'm not suggesting that we all recite Green Lantern's oath. We know that according to Scripture we are not to take any oaths, but rather let our yes be yes and our no be no (James 5:2) but that also means that when we say that we will work for God, we need to keep our word.
Our yes must be yes. Yes, Lord, I will work for you. We don't need any oaths for that, but I think that now and then we need to be reminded just what we signed up for, and just maybe it will spur us on to work more for the Lord.
The last thing I will say in closing is that Green Lantern needs to use Will Power to make his power ring work. If we don't have will power when it comes to the Lord, if we are not willing to make the decision to work for Him and stand by it, then we are not doing any good. We need to say, "Alright, God told me to do this, He'll help me and I'm going to do it!"
Be strong willed when it comes to following through with what God tells you to do!
The last thing I will say in closing is that Green Lantern needs to use Will Power to make his power ring work. If we don't have will power when it comes to the Lord, if we are not willing to make the decision to work for Him and stand by it, then we are not doing any good. We need to say, "Alright, God told me to do this, He'll help me and I'm going to do it!"
Be strong willed when it comes to following through with what God tells you to do!
May God bless you and may your light shine brightly even in darkest night!
Benjamin Pass
excellent Benjamin, I loved it.
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