pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: darkness


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The Word Became Flesh

“In the beginning” is how John begins his gospel. He draws us back to the beginning because Christ was there too.  In this connection back to Genesis we also get the start of Christ’s story.  Until God spoke, our ‘world’ was only chaos and darkness.  Until God spoke.  He spoke the world into being.

Last night we celebrated another creation that God spoke into being.  He said to Mary, “you shall bear a son” and it was.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Through His life Jesus brought us life and light, grace and mercy.  For a second time God spoke and the darkness fled.

When we see Christ as both ancient and also as new, we catch a peak into the holy mystery.  It is that beautiful place where heaven and earth meet.  In this place the light again conquered the darkness.  The darkness shall never overcome the Light.  Here Christ’s glory is revealed.  As the Word becomes flesh and dwells within us, heaven and earth again meet.  From within this imperfect vessel that is each of us, may Christ’s light shine forth this day and every day.  Merry Christmas!!

Scripture reference: John 1: 1-14


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True Light, Eternal Freedom

In Isaiah 9 we find a passage that bridges the time in which he was writing with the time when Jesus lived with our time today.It speaks of what was, what is, and what will be.  By virtue of its timelessness, it is perfect for today.

Throughout time people have craved for light to shine in the darkness, for evil to be overcome.  Isaiah’s words, “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light”, bring hope.  He writes about breaking the yoke of oppression, of ending the foreign dominance.  In Jesus’ day it was the Romans on one level and the religious leaders on another level.  Today the things that oppress us vary greatly – from the self-imposed to things out of our control.  Forever and always we will long for freedom.

Into the midst of the oppression and the longing for freedom from all that burdens us steps the Christ child.  Tonight we celebrate Jesus’ birth – the entrance of the True Light, the arrival of eternal freedom.  Embrace these truths as we gather tonight to welcome Him into the world and into our lives.

Isaiah 9: 2-7


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Light of the World

“Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness.  Opened my eyes, let me see.  Beauty that made this heart adore you, hope of a life spent with you.”  These are the opening lines to the song, ‘Here I Am to Worship’.  We were once called from the darkness into the light.  As we come to know Christ, we come to live in His light.

Once we have accepted Christ we are ‘walking in th light.’  We come to realize that we cannot keep anything hidden from God.  We were once under the illusion that we could.  But once we believe in Christ, we realize that God always knew what we were doing in our sin.  We just come to know that He knows.  Once we are walking in the light, we make decisions from the WWJD perspective (what would Jesus do?)  As we walk in the light, we cast light along other’s paths as well.  This can expose darkness in their lives – and what a great opportunity this can be to minister to them!  At times this too can remind us of darkness we yet have in our lives and it allows us opportunity to grow in our walk with Christ.

Yet alas!!  We are human and at times we step out of the light and into darkness.  Satan is ever knocking at our door, ever bringing temptations before us.  Like Christ, he also never gives up.  At times we may stumble, but the great love and light of Christ always is there to call us back.  Praise be to God for His unending love of you and me!!

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Living Like the Light

The prophets have long spoken of God in terms of light.  The Old Testament refers to the coming messiah as one who will bring light into the world.  In the transfiguration story we see Jesus becoming the ultimate light of the world.  The light grows from within Him until his whole form is dazzling and simply full of brightness.  To me it would be like looking into the sun – except that He is right there instead of 93,000,000 miles away.

As we come to know Christ and to grow into our relationship with Him, our daily walk is generally blessed and we are often happy and content.  But there are moments in each day and sometimes days when we seem to struggle with darkness and wrestle with the evils of temptation and sin.  But overall, life is good because ultimately our hope rests in Jesus and His saving grace.  Yet our reality is that evil and darkness do exist in our world.  Life can be difficult.  At times it draws close to us and at other times evil and darkness seem far away.  When we are tempted, evil has drawn near.  We also can find it in people we know and meet.  There are all kinds of dark things that people are struggling with.  For some, all seems dark for they have lost hope.  Yet none are beyond hope.  Nothing is outside of the love of Christ.  No situation is unable to be redeemed.

It is when we find ourselves in darkness or when facing down the evils of sin, that we can call upon the light of the world to chase away the darkness.  Just a quiet ‘help’ and He comes running.  Just a glance toward heaven and the light begins to grow.  The Lamp begins to glow, as a candle spreads light in the dark, and we can again see our way and we can find our hope and peace.  In turn we can also be the light that shines into other people’s lives to dispel that darkness and give light to their path.  We can each be a candle that illuminates.  As we grow in Christ, our light radiates out to bring light and love to a broken and hurting world.