The Saviour of the world took the humblest of human forms, by leaving His place in Heaven, to live on earth. Poor. As a minority. Mocked. A life that would lead to suffering and death.
He entered darkness.
“The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” – Matthew 4:16 (ref. Isaiah 9:12)
He brought the Light… He brought Heaven down. The Light of the World – Jesus Christ.
John tells us that, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.” – John 1:9-10. The darkness blinded the majority from recognizing their need for a Saviour – from believing that He was indeed the promised Messiah who was to come.
Darkness invades… slowly. In small ways. Even in ways that appear good but are twisted just enough away from the Light to skew people’s thoughts and views.
The culture that we live in is an ever-increasing feel-good, self-serving, you-deserve-it culture… where dying to self and humbling ourselves to serve others often aren’t things that are celebrated… well, unless they can somehow bring self-promotion or attention or followers. (If you’re on social media, you’ve likely seen this first-hand like I have…)
The darkness thrives in our culture today - it’s celebrated even. Darkness blinds us from seeing Light. From knowing Truth. From receiving Grace. From living Holy.
And so, as Christ-followers, entering into a season where we look to celebrate the birth of our Saviour who gave His life for ours, in the face of so many who celebrate a Christ-less Christmas, we’re confronted with a problem of enormous proportions: our world needs The Light. Souls need saving. And the darkness needs to decrease, not increase.
So, the challenge is left at our feet: it’s up to us to help push back the darkness and address the crisis of the Christ-less. Let’s contribute to increasing The Light and let our words and actions point people to Jesus. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll discover what true joy, hope, and peace feel like this Christmas.
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