My theme for this devotional is “It will soon be Christmas!”, and I’ll be talking about all the lights that we put up – in our houses, in our churches, and we see up and down our streets. So I just want to share with you my inspiration for this particular devotional.
When I was a pastor in Swindon, it was very common for all the streets round there to put up Christmas lights, and they used to have many competitions around there to see who would put up the best lights. It was lovely to walk down those streets and to see all the lights shining. But, as always, come Christmas – come the end of the Christmas period and moving on into new year, it wasn’t long before those lights just disappeared and were put back in their boxes for another year. So much hard work, so much effort into putting up wonderful light displays.
A friend of mine was inspired by this to write an article, where he talked about all the light building up to Christmas and to celebrating Christmastime together. Many people miss the message of Christmas, and don’t realise that the main message of Christmas is that Jesus is the Light of The World. And he challenged us in this article he wrote that as we put away the lights from one Christmas to the next, that we as Christians go on sharing the light of Jesus in the world. Although the lights of the festivities of Christmas have gone out, we could know that the light of Jesus could still shine through our lives and reach out to people living in darkness. So that’s just by way of introduction.
So, it will soon be Christmas. I hope I haven’t sent you into a panic mode and frenzy, and into a rush to get everything done in time. I like Christmas with all the festive lights, and most of all, the celebration of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem, who grew up to be the man of Calvary – the man of Calvary who died on a Cross that we might be forgiven – a man who died on the Cross, that rose from the dead to give us eternal life.
It seems strange to me that many do not like the darkness yet will celebrate the macabre of Halloween. I’m not going to dwell on that, except to say that it is evil and has become satanic. I want to concentrate on the fact that Jesus is the Light of the World.
To me, as I walk home in the darkness of autumn and winter, it is reassuring to see the lights glowing in the windows. Light is so important when you drop something on the floor, and your torchlight shines on that all-important tiny screw. Far better than kneeling on that little screw! Light can reveal to us a safe pathway in the dark.
However, there is a light I want to share with you. Jesus, the Light of the World, reveals the darkness in our lives, and he offers us light, and revelation, and a hope for the future. Many will say that during the last couple of years we’ve been going through dark times due to Covid, and long for what we once called normal. Or, to coin a phrase, to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Here are some scriptures that reflect on Jesus the Light of the World coming into a dark and sinful world.
Isaiah 60: 1-2 says: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.”
These verses speak about a hope to come, for people’s hearts were full of sin and darkness, but Jesus was coming as light to reveal the darkness and offer us a way to peace with God.
John 1: 4-9: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The writer here is speaking of Jesus – the Light of the World. For sin in the heart of man is like something we want to hide away, as if in the darkness, sadly separating us from God. But because He loved us so much, he sent Jesus as the Light of the World to reveal our wrongdoings. This passage goes on to say: to those who receive the light of Jesus and confess their sins will be given power from on high to become the children of God.
So what are we to do with the light of God in our lives? We are called to shine out in such a way that all around us can see by the way we live for God that Jesus is our Saviour and Lord.
Many years ago, when I was a boys brigade officer, we had a young lad in the company who was really a disruptive influence on the whole of the company, and we kind of looked for ways that we might encourage him not to come along because he was such a disruptive influence. And the captain on one occasion spoke about Jesus the Light of the World, and we thought he never listened to a word of what we ever said. And then one day, he came and said: “Your best dreams have come true.” He said: “I know I’m a troublemaker. I know you could look for ways to bar me from coming to the company nights, but your prayers have been answered.” He said: “We’re moving away.”
Well, time passed. Many years passed by. In fact probably three, four, … maybe five. Then one day he knocked on the captain’s door back in the town where he used to live, and he said: “Do you remember me.”
And the captain looked at him and he said: “Your face is familiar.” Then he realised who he was – the guy that we probably saw as a troublemaker.
He said: “You always wanted to find an excuse for me not to come to the company.” But he said: “You preached a word on Jesus Light of the World, and I’ve never forgotten it.” And he said: “My family took me one night only a little while ago to a Billy Graham meeting where he spoke on Jesus Light of the World, and it all came back to me. My life had been lived in darkness. I’d been a bad influence on many people. I’d been bad in many ways, but suddenly I saw that Jesus was the Light of the World and that he could forgive all my sin, and I’ve come back to say thank you that you never threw me out, but you preached to me the Word of God.”
So when we sow the seed of the Word of God, we can be sure that seed, although it may take a long time to come to fruition, one day it will.
Back to our text. Sorry to digress. I hope you have stayed with me. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 14, Jesus says: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” What Jesus is saying here is a light on a hilltop can be seen from all around. Jesus pointed his disciples to such a place, where, from wherever you approached this hill, you could see that city on a hill.
I remember (Again, digressing if you will forgive me), when I was in the Holy Land with my wife back in the year 2000, the guide for the tour took us to the place where Jesus pointed out the city on a hill, and whichever way you approached that – from north, south, east or west, you could see this city high above the rest of the ground around it. And so the city stood out so you could see it, and you could see at night any lights that were shining from it.
So, this Christmastime, let us shine the light of Jesus into the darkness of this world and to the people we meet. Let us also make sure that as we pack away the Christmas lights after Christmas, that the light of Jesus continues to shine through us to a lost and needy world.
I wish you a happy and blessed Christmas in Jesus. Amen.