“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. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
Isaiah 60:1-3
Jesus let us know in Mathew 5:14-16: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Throughout the Christmas season we are reminded that Jesus is the light of the world. From the beautifully lit trees and houses to the city streets lit up with a myriad of various lights, it is a reminder of the true light that came into a dark world to bring life, light and complete salvation in every area of our lives. Yet, in the above scripture, Jesus lets us know that He isn’t the only light. We are the light as well! Isn’t that an amazing truth? Not only is Jesus the light of the world, but so are we. The Lord has called us to shine brightly in order to draw others to Him! We are not to be overcome with the darkness, instead we are to outshine the darkness and make it flee! What happens to a dark room when you turn the light on? Does the light have to struggle with the darkness to make it depart? No of course not. Simply by turning on the light, the dark disappears. The darkness has no power against the light, because what is in the light is so much more powerful. Darkness is basically the absence of light, so all that you have to do is bring light onto the scene.
This same truth can also be expressed the following way in Romans 12:21: “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Instead of focusing on all that is going wrong in the world, we need to focus on the good that we can do through the Lord. For 1 John 4:4 declares: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” The Greater One lives on the inside of us. We are the temple of the living God. Therefore, when we walk according to His ways and His will, in love, we can not be defeated. We always win! Galatians 5:13-25 describes quite well the deeds of darkness vs. the deeds of light. We can see the difference between the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit.
During this Christmas season, let us not only be reminded of Jesus and all that He did for us, but let us also be the light that He has called us to be! Let us shine His love and goodness, His power and way of doing things brightly this season! Let’s let the fruits of the spirit be so highly developed in our lives that we shine God’s love wherever we go!
Further reading: John 1, Genesis 1, Galatians 5:13-25, Isaiah 60 and 61
