It’s CHRISTMASTIME!!!
I love driving around looking at Christmas lights with my family. After the time change in the fall, the early darkness always seems a bit dreary — until December! Then the twinkly lights cut through the darkness, brightening the night sky. We’re almost thankful that it gets dark earlier so we can delight in all the brightly lit homes.
What a perfect way to celebrate the birth of Christ! After all, Jesus describes himself as the light in John 12:46, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
The light of Christ shines in the darkness. It makes a way, gives us direction and is the foundation for our confidence that — no matter what we might hear on the news or see in our news feeds — that darkness will never overcome the light. Never.
Check out John 1:5 in the Message, “Everything was created through him; nothing — not one thing! — came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.”
When you start feeling the darkness encroaching upon your life, remember the light defeats the darkness. Every time!
Romans 8:31 & 35 ask the questions, “If God is for us, who can be against us? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” The triumphant answer comes in verses 37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We are truly more than conquerors through the life — and light — of Christ Jesus, our Savior and King.
This season, as you gaze at a well-lit home or Christmas tree, take some time to ponder on the one true Light of the World, the one who defeats the darkness and beckons us to sit at his feet in the warmth and protection of his light.
By Cyndie Claypool de Neve
Senior Creative Director