“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

                                                    - John 1:4-9

That is what we celebrate and anticipate this Advent season, the light, the true light, coming into the world. We hear it often, maybe so often that we forget what those words actually mean for us; but it so important for us to understand because without the light, the true light, we are in darkness unable to see. Jesus himself said to his disciples in John 12:35-36 “Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you, The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” Without Jesus’ birth, life and death we are walking in darkness, if we hear these words and do not believe our hearts will be hardened and our eyes will be blinded to the light, as prophesized by Isaiah and fulfilled in John 12.

The world tries to reject the light because it exposes the darkness in our lives that we have hidden and do not want revealed. We, as Christians, are called to be in the world and not of the world, but still we often find that the revealing nature of the light can be a painful experience. When truths about us are revealed we often try to defend our actions or non-actions; we rebel, retreat and try to reject the truth being shown in us. We try to convince ourselves, and others, that we are not in the wrong or we try to cover up our wrongdoing. I know that I do this, when faced with something about myself that I do not want to accept I naturally want to act explosively, in anger, but I have begun to realize that in order to not be “trafficking in darkness,” as Pastor Justin put it, I must let the light expose those things and kill the darkness.

I think everyone recognizes the saving nature of the true light whether they realize it or not, because we are always looking for a source of light outside of the true light.  We are precisely like moths, as Pastor Justin said, constantly in search of and settling for lesser lights, thinking those lights are the true light until they begin to dim and we go in search of another. We know that light nourishes and provides a way to see through the darkness, but when some encounter the brightness of the true light they try to cover their eyes to its brilliance, because without belief of Jesus who helps us see, His true light is blinding. As Christians, we know that Jesus is the one true light; He defeated darkness and with His light he drowns out all the lesser lights that we might be drawn to. Through belief in Him we become sons and daughters of light so that others might see Him through us. We are mere reflectors of the true light, so that others are not blinded immediately by the true light and have a chance to see it’s brilliance. The God, who created the light of the universe, is the light inside us through His Son, so that we might never be in darkness again.

~Rachel Whippo