One of the favorite traditions of the Christmas Season is to light up the night with lights. Before we even turn the calendar to December, neighborhoods and businesses, homes and churches all burst in patterns of red, green, and white. Who doesn’t love decorating the Christmas tree, then turning out all the other lights in the room to enjoy the twinkling lights? Even a single candle burns brightly against the backdrop of darkness.
This tradition is well suited to the real celebration of the season. The Bible says that when Jesus Christ was born, light came into the world (John 3:19). In fact, more than 200 times in the Bible, God is described as light. Whenever God appears, light appears. It happened in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, all the way until the end of time when the book of Revelation tells us that in hell there will only be darkness and in heaven there will only be light.
When we celebrate Christmas, we remember the day in history when Jesus stepped from heaven to earth, bringing with Him the light that drives out the darkness in man’s heart. This is amazing news! John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
The Light helps you find your way.
If you feel lost, alone, and trapped… searching but not finding, Jesus Christ is the light.
If you feel cruelly crushed under the wrongs done to you, Jesus Christ is the light.
If you feel overwhelmed by something that you just can’t figure out, Jesus Christ is the light.
Before any of us turned to Jesus, nothing made sense to us either. We couldn’t sort out anything in this mixed up world. But since receiving Jesus as our Savior, we understand what’s going on. Suddenly Christmas is so much more than a stale exchange of gifts and some silly guy in a red suit. At Christmas we celebrate the forgiveness of sin that can only be found in Jesus, the gift of Christmas.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12
The Light exposes your heart.
Think pitch-black… now light a candle. Suddenly darkness is chased away. But it begins by facing the hard reality of who you are: a person in need of God’s grace. Are you willing to see yourself in this new light? When you come to the light, all that is sinful and sour that is in you is exposed.
The darkness of your heart can’t be denied anymore; it can’t be hidden or pushed away. But you can’t have what the light of Jesus Christ offers you until you let it expose who you really are.
We were all born with a sinful, dark heart. That doesn’t change until we first recognize how desperately we need God and how we have broken His law and are under His just condemnation (Romans 3:23). When you choose to come to Jesus, the first thing that happens is that the light exposes your heart.
The Light dispel the darkness.
Now for the good news. When you expose your heart to the light and you see what you really need, the light of Jesus Christ chases away that darkness in your heart.
There is no darkness in any human being that the gospel can’t get to. You may have read this far thinking, Sure, this is all good news for some people, but you don’t know what I’ve done.
There’s no place where you have been that Jesus’ light can not go. There’s no sin that you have fallen into that the light can not overwhelm with grace. No sin is so dark that the light of Christ can not penetrate its depths.
What qualifies Jesus for this transaction? He took on all your sin when He died on the cross in your place. His blood covered the darkness of sin; He paid the complete price. He deserved none of it but He took all of it. The greatest injustice of all would be to continue to live in the darkness from which Jesus suffered and died to set you free.
Sin offers only suffering, sadness, shame, and slavery but Jesus, the light, brings hope, healing, forgiveness, life, love.
Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” …John 12:35-36
It’s your choice. Make today the day that you are saved from the darkness of sin. Don’t put it off. Let the True Light of Jesus light up your life this Christmas Season.

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