Don’t you love the first light when the sun comes up in the morning? Don’t you love to see starlight shining at night, or the moon? Don’t you love to see the light shining through the window when you are coming to visit someone you love?
Light is a metaphor for good things, truth, and virtue.
Light is a significant metaphor in the Bible. It is on the first page and the last page of the Bible and used 250 times in between.
Genesis 1: 3-4 - And God said, “Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.”
Revelations 22:5 – And there shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
I can remember, as a child, being afraid of the dark and I begged my mother to let me leave the light on at night. I was afraid of what I could not see in the dark; the monster hiding under my bed, the burglar hiding around the corner, scary animals hiding in the dark outside. The light felt safer to me. I haven’t been afraid of the dark for decades, but I only discovered in the last few years that God is always the light so there is no reason to fear the many forms of darkness here on earth.
Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 43:3 – Oh send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle.
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Ecclesiastes 11:7 – Truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun.
Isaiah 2:5 – O house of Jacob, come let us walk in the light of the Lord.
God instructs us to be his light on earth to those that suffer and are sad or afraid. If we care for those who are hungry or destitute or grieving, we are his light here on earth and following his will. Our food bank, our deacon’s fund, our missions are showing his light. Recently an anonymous donor gave $50,000 to the Zimbabwe Mission Partnership for the orphans in a year that we were not able to do our fundraisers due to COVID concerns. What a blessing! What a bright light in a year with a lot of darkness!
How can we each be a light to someone who is in darkness? How can we each shine the love and peace of Jesus to light someone’s way? There has been so much grief, sadness, anger, and isolation this year with the fires, with COVID, with the divisive politics, but we can be the light by being positive, generous, loving, and kind.
Matthew 5:16 – Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Ephesians 5:8-13 – For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth-testing what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made visible.
From Christopher B. James at Jesus Dust, an online blog: "This is one of my favorite passages using this metaphor. Paul describes salvation as the transformation from darkness to light. He doesn’t say 'you were in the darkness' but 'you were darkness and now you are light.' Then he calls for Christians to live as Children of the light – which he describes as living virtuously (light as goodness.) The fruit of the light is synonymous here with the fruit of the spirit. And then—and this is my favorite part—he turns the metaphor from light as virtue to light as vision, when he talks about how light makes everything visible, namely the action and character of people. He adds a final thought – everything that is illuminated becomes a light. In other words, anyone who is in the light of God, becomes a light to others."
1 Peter 2:9 – But you are the chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light.
Look at all these quotes about light. Light is good.
“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” Maya Angelou
“Within you is the light of a thousand suns.” Robert Adams
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” Aristotle
“We are all broken, that’s how the light gets in.” Ernest Hemingway
“Give light and people will find the way.” Ella Baker
“There is no darkness so dense, so menacing, or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by light.” Vern P. Stanfill
“I shine with love and light in every moment.” Anonymous
“If you are the light, you cast away the darkness.” ManHee Lee
“Hope
is being able to see that there is light despite all of the
darkness.” Desmond Tutu
“You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.” Oprah Winfrey
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” (Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart)
Is it too early to celebrate the birth of Jesus? Not for me. I love this music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFYyE2XS30
May God Bless you with his light today and every day!!
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