I’m writing this on Christmas morning, 12/25/24. The house is still quiet and I’m enjoying a cup of coffee and my Bible. It’s a perfect time to reflect on what this day means to me (and you), and why we celebrate it every year.
I was thinking about the Christmas Eve service we attended last night at our church. Like so many over the years, we ended with singing Silent Night while the congregation enjoyed a cancel-light celebration. You’ve probably done this at your church, too, where one single candle is lit and then passed on to another, then another, then another, until the entire congregation is aglow with hundreds of candles. It’s neat to watch, and the result is beautiful. It’s also very symbolic.
The candle-light celebration represents sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. One person tells another, who tells another, and another, until the message fills the earth. This is our calling; the Great Commission from Matthew 28:19-20.
The significance of the light is not lost on me today, either. The world is a dark place (morally, physically, and spiritually). Just read the news headlines and you know what I’m talking about. So, it should come as no surprise, then, that if God knew the world would be a dark place, that He would either provide the light — or be the light– to save us from the darkness. And that is exactly what he has done on Christmas and all the way through the Scriptures, from the beginning to the end.
We see God’s glory as light all the way through the Bible, from Genesis (1:3) to Revelation (21:22-23). God is present from before time began to the end of time and he is providing all the light we will ever need for all eternity through his own glory! And we even see His glory light up the hillside the night the angels brought good news to the shepherds outside Bethlehem announcing the birth of the Christ child.
Don’t miss this. We serve a God who is intimately involved in the events of human history, from the beginning to the very end. The little baby Jesus is proof of that!
Suddenly, everything changed. All history changed when Jesus was born. God did something special on that 1st Christmas morning in Bethlehem. It was His plan from the beginning to provide light for us in the darkness, and so he sent his son Jesus to fulfill that plan and to be that light.
Now, if we jump ahead in the Bible to when Jesus was an adult, we see a remarkable shift. In the Book of John, Jesus makes a number of different “I AM” statements, including saying things like, “I AM the gate,” or “I AM the good shepherd,” or “I AM the way…” But Jesus also said, “I AM the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). He is the light!
This is crucial. When we follow Jesus — when we accept him as Savior and Lord — then you and I walk in His light. We no longer walk blindly in the dark, in our sin. His light exposes our sin. And darkness hates the light!
But He’s not done there, because Jesus then turns it back on us. Here’s where it gets personal. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says you and I are to be the light of the world (like a city on a hill or a lamp on a stand). Jesus says don’t hide it! Verse 16: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
So, God sent His Son as a baby on Christmas morning…
- To be our light in this world, and to
- One day grow up and be our perfect and sinless sacrifice on the cross.
- To save us from our sins, so that we may reflect that light and share it with a lost and dark world.
God’s glory and His light are all over the place. It’s what Christmas is all about. But it’s also in you and me, and God intends for us to not hide it. Let your light shine and share it with others.
…Just like a candle-light Christmas service. It represents sharing our light with others. The light of Jesus that is in you — the Gospel, and God’s GLORY.
Keep that in mind this Christmas morning!
