Give Me a Light

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Every so often, the History Channel has a program on supposed ancient aliens. The so-called “experts” believe that many of our ideas of miracles were actually alien encounters. They even go as far as to suggest that the virgin birth was an alien intervention. The aliens artificially inseminated Mary with alien sperm which explains Jesus’ superhuman abilities. It wasn’t God, it was alien DNA. . . . Alright, you can choose to believe these experts if you want OR you can listen to someone who investigated the story first hand and gave us his account of the truth.

First, let’s back up a little. What’s the big deal with a baby born 2000 years ago? Part of the answer is found several hundreds of years even before Jesus’ birth:

The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, and those who were sitting in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a Light has dawned (Isaiah 9:1–2).

Which brings us to a group of shepherds sitting in the dark:
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over
their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were terrified (Luke 2:8–9).

The shepherds are in the dark, being perfectly content and calm and peaceful, until God shows up. It is strange that when they’re in the dark they’re alright, but when they get into God’s light they’re terrified? Why? The longer we are in the darkness, the more natural that darkness becomes for us. The longer we are around darkness the more comfortable we become with it. A bright light in our face after we’ve been in darkness for a long time can be very uncomfortable at first.

Imagine you’re sleeping. You’re in a deep sleep in the middle of the night when all of a sudden, your spouse turns on the bright overhead light. What do you say to them? (Probably something you cannot say in church.) One thing is for sure, you yell, “Turn that light out!”

Our world does the same thing. They don’t like God’s light because they’ve become too accustomed to the darkness. Our society says:“Get that Bible out of here . . . we don’t need to go that far.”“Get those 10 commandments off the courthouse walls . . . we don’t like to see them.” “Get that manger scene off public grounds. . . we don’t want to be reminded.”

In the Bible they yelled to turn out the light, but God still sent it. Today, even if many flinch under God’s light, he still continues to send it. He still wants to share it. He still wants to touch your life with his light. What darkness could Jesus shine a
little light on for you? He said of himself: I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life (John 8:12).

Do we believe that? Light has always been a symbol of Hope. Costal shores are filled with lighthouses. They are fun to visit and to have your photo taken in front of
with the family. In fact, they can seem a little useless nowadays with every ship having GPS. Ever since GPS, ships don’t have to worry about dangerous sea shores anymore or where the harbor is. However, there was a day before all
those instruments that the lighthouse came to mean something wonderful to a lost ship.

I have been that lost ship. And when you’re lost, light is always welcomed.

Jesus said, “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in Me will no longer remain in darkness” (John 12:46).
And in this we find the real meaning of Christmas—embrace the light.


[Ron Otto, Lincoln Christian Church]

 

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