Promises Fulfilled: A Men's Devotional on Christmasනියැදිය

Light to the World

One thing I love about Christmas is the lights.

Whether on a house, a nativity scene, or around the tree, the warm glow makes the season feel special.

As a dad, one of my least favorite jobs is standing on a ladder outside in the cold and actually putting up the Christmas lights on my house. But the chore is worth it to see my home warmly lit up every night we pull into the driveway.

Here is one indisputable fact whenever light comes into contact with darkness:

Light always wins.

In a dim room, light banishes darkness with the flip of a switch. When the sun rises, nighttime simply goes away as the light shines down.

Even in a very dark setting, like camping in the woods at night, where the campfire and flashlights don’t completely remove all darkness, they do push it back.

And more importantly, while light always cuts through darkness, darkness never cuts through the light.

When light and darkness bump into each other, light always wins.

Lost in the never-ending darkness of its sin, brokenness, and death, the weary world was desperately waiting for light to break through.

And centuries before that birth in Bethlehem, through Isaiah, God promised that it would.

Hope entered the world when Jesus entered it. The shadows of our brokenness, rebellion, and doom were to be no more. The darkness that covered the world had a shelf-life, and Jesus’ birth marked the beginning of the end of it.

God promised to break through the darkness with His light, and that promise is fulfilled in Jesus.

And even as He is light, He also calls us light as well (Matthew 5:14-16). We are His light to a lost and lonely world as He shines through us, and as our actions and words point others towards His glow.

And so men who follow Jesus rise up to that calling, looking around to wherever they see darkness around them, asking, “Where can I shine His light today?”

Prayer: Lord, let Your light shine through me! Show me a dim place today where I can share Your hope, love, and grace with someone. Amen.

Reflection: What keeps us from letting our light shine? What is a small way we can let it out this week?