“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3)
We have lots of windows in our home. The entire downstairs back wall is almost all windows. On a beautiful sunny day I never have to turn on a light because the light of the sun shining through these windows is enough to light the whole downstairs and heat it up in the winter time. I’ve been guilty more than once on a cold winter day of getting behind the dropped curtains and leaning my back against the window and just soaking in the heat and light.
There are many days that I have been home working in the house by the light of these windows and as the end of the day approaches I have sat down to cuddle up with our pups and read a book or watch a little tv until my husband gets home from work. Then, he has more than once walked in the door and immediately flipped on the light and asked me “Why are you sitting in the dark?” My response,”I didn’t realize it had gotten dark.”
As I sat there the light around me had so slowly become darkness that I had acclimated to the darkness. My eyes and mind had simply adjusted to the darkness and I was not able to see how dark my surroundings had actually become until someone with fresh eyes walked in, someone with a different perspective, someone who had not been sitting in the same space with me the entire time, came in and pointed out the darkness and turned on the light.
In Genesis 1:1-4 we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.”
In John 1:1-5 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
In John 3:19-21 Jesus teaches us, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
In John 8:12 Jesus says, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
In John 12:45 Jesus tells us, “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
When Jesus arrived on the scene the world did not realize how dark it had become. Even those who knew the Word of God, who had the Law and the Prophets of God in their hands, had become so acclimated to the darkness that they were oblivious to how dark the darkness had become. In John 9 we read of an account of one of the times that Jesus healed a blind man and now is being interrogated by the religious authorities of the day. In John 9:39 Jesus says, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
You see when I was sitting in that dark room waiting for my husband to come home. I could have responded to his turning on the light in two ways. I could have been there in the room struggling to read my book in the very dim light and having been too engrossed in my pursuit of the story not realizing how much my eyes were strained and then the light brings relief because now I can see. And I am so very thankful for the light.
Or I could be zoned out watching our television. Engrossed in a false reality of my own choosing and when he flips on the light it blinds and distracts me. Causing me to even possibly get irritated because now the light has blinded me from being able to stay in the false reality I was very comfortable in. And I am not thankful at all for the light.
However, I can still become thankful, if I let it wake me up. If I let it help me see how much time I have wasted engrossed in a mindless false reality and it moves me to get up and get busy in the light being the light. Because Jesus also said in Matthew 5:14-15, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”
We celebrate Christmas with lights. We celebrate with lights because Christmas is when we purposely set our minds on the day that the Light of the world became flesh and dwelled among us. This Christmas let that Light shine. Take time this Christmas season to find a space, a moment, to let Jesus pull back the veil of your heart and mind and rest your back against the window of His Word and soak up its heat and light.
Let His Word shine in every area of your life. If you hear His voice ask, “Why are you sitting in the dark?” It’s okay to not argue back, to not justify how you got there, but to just simply say I didn’t even realize it was dark. Then get up and come to His light and shine.
We are called to be His Light, we are called to shine in the darkness, not sit in it and certainly not to be intimated or afraid of it, because no matter how dark the darkness, all it takes is a little light. So if the Light of His life is in us, everywhere we go, darkness loses power. This Christmas season, let every twinkling light remind you of the Light that separates darkness, of the Light that came into this world, of the Light that is the life of us all, of the Light that we are called to be. This Christmas be reminded and encouraged to be His Light and SHINE.