Daily Devotional Details

Date

“Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19

Jesus says, “The reason why some did not believe is that they loved the wrong things. They loved darkness rather than light.” It’s about what you love the most. But why did they love the darkness?

Notice what Jesus is teaching us here. Why do people love the wrong things? Answer: What we do shapes what we love. People loved darkness “because their deeds were evil.” Here’s the principle: You do what you love and you love what you do.

Think about how this works in the life of an alcoholic. How does a person become an alcoholic? A person drinks alcohol. It produces an effect that is pleasing. It may be that it dulls some pain or lessens some inhibition, and so they drink it again.

Over time a pattern develops. The deed produces the love and the love produces the deed. And when the pattern accelerates, a habit, and then a dependency is formed. This remains true even when you wish it were not so. At some point the alcoholic says, “I hate this thing. I do not want to be like this! But now there is a love of this thing that keeps driving me back to it.”

This pattern is true of any sin. The deed produces the love and the love produces the deed. You will do what you love and you will love what you do.

Are you feeling driven right now in some area of your life? What love is driving what you’re doing?