The Greek philosopher Aristotle lived around 350 years before Christ. I recently saw this saying attributed to him: “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus on the light.”
I do not know much about Aristotle. I remember that he was interested in logic and virtue. He explained virtue, if I recall, as “living a life between the extremes of excess and lack. A person can become virtuous by practicing that middle ground. In that way, virtue can become a habit.”
He was not an OT believer, so I’m not sure what he meant when he said that “we must focus on the light.” For him, the light was not the Word of God, or God Himself. If I had to guess, I would say he would have defined the light as “logic” or “virtue.”
I could imagine him, or other philosophers, teaching something like this: When life is tough, we must make it our aim to develop virtue through such experiences. Difficulties can cause us to see the importance of virtue. It is what really matters and will make our lives successful in the fullest sense. We must focus on virtue. (I’m sure those who studied Greek philosophy would cringe at how inarticulately I have expressed Aristotle’s teachings. But I hope I’m in the ballpark.)
Obviously, a believer should not look to a pagan Greek philosopher for guidance on living an abundant life. Virtue, however Aristotle defined it, is not the light.
But his saying caught my eye. It is one of those examples of there being more truth in something than meets the eye. Aristotle stated a profound spiritual truth even though he did not realize it. It reminds me of another old saying: “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time.”
Jesus said that He was the light of the world (John 8:12). Unfortunately, Aristotle did not believe in the coming Christ, so he did not focus on what God’s Word said about Him. He is the One who gives eternal life, but He is also the source of an abundant experience of that life both in this life and the one to come (John 10:10).
When things are going well, it’s easy to forget how important He is in day-to-day life. In comfortable times, we can lose sight of the fact that He offers us valuable intimacy with Him now and rewards in His kingdom to come. We can become comfortable with what the world offers us.
But difficult times can cause a change of perspective. When Jesus said He was the light of the world, it was after a woman had been caught in adultery and was being threatened with death by stoning. That was a difficult time for her! Her sin had placed her in serious jeopardy.
In my opinion, she is a picture of a believer. In the darkness, she found chaos and death. But after coming to Christ and finding His forgiveness, she could walk in the light of His teaching. The darkness she experienced had led her to focus on Him.
The author of Hebrews makes the same point. He was writing to people going through severe persecution. They lived in dark times. But he said they should focus on “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2). This would motivate them to follow His example and would lead to great rewards in His kingdom. Their difficulties could be used to compel them to focus on the Light of the World.
Paul experienced the same thing in 2 Cor 12:9. He was given some kind of thorn in the flesh. This caused him to look to the grace and strength that Christ provides to those who focus on Him.
Nobody likes to go through periods of darkness. Even a pagan philosopher like Aristotle could figure that out. He also knew that such times could be beneficial if we look for the light that leads us out of the darkness. His problem was that he picked the wrong light bulb.
