[The following devotional is a part of our 2014 Advent Devotional Guide. We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between November 30 – December 31, 2014.]
Life and Light by Mark Robinson
Read: John 1:4-5
Have you ever noticed how often things break? You get a new toy for your birthday and it is your favorite – for a while. But after just a few weeks, an arm breaks off your action figure, a eye needs to be sewn back on the doll, or the batteries need replacing. Things in this world just don’t last as long as we would like. This includes even people. All of us have experienced the sorrow of seeing a loved one die. In this world most everything is broken and dying.
But . . . at Christmas time, we celebrate life not death. At Christmas time, we celebrate light and not darkness. Why? Because of Jesus.
As we saw in John 1:4-5, Jesus came as a giver of life, not a dispenser of death. The Bible tells us that one day Jesus will return to the earth again and set up a kingdom that will never end, filled with people who are eternally alive, and inhabiting a world that is protected from decay. Why? Because “In Him was life.” Additionally, Jesus was a light in this dark world that would never be “overcome.” That means He would never break or be extinguished. We have a living and bright future because of Jesus.
So to all of us who are living in a dying and broken world, there is good news of great joy this (and every) Christmas season. Jesus birth brought Life and Light into the world, giving us something different than the rest of this world can offer. Faith in Christ is more than a decision to follow a new religion. . . it is a step out of your dying and broken destiny into an eternally living and luminous future.
Questions:
- How often does something break around your house?
- How does hearing that Jesus brings light and life encourage you?
Advent Prayer:
- Praise God for the life and light that Jesus has brought into the world!
So grateful Jesus isn’t “breakable” Mark, you always speak to my soul.
Hazel, it is a wonderful reminder. I wrote this devotional over a month ago. I reread it today after learning that a friend passed away earlier this morning unexpectantly (and much too young). Eternal life is such an important gift in a world that is so marked by death. So thankful my friend had unwrapped the gift of life in christ before it was too late. She is with the Lord now.