What is your favorite Christmas decoration? Perhaps it’s the elaborative tree in your living room or the wreath on your front door. Personally, it’s all about the lights! Whether on a tree or a gabled roofline, I love how hundreds of tiny individual bulbs come together to produce an overwhelming atmosphere of brightness amid the dark night. More so, they remind me of the true Light of the world, Jesus, who came to save us from the dominion of darkness and called us to the kingdom of light! In and of themselves, the lights don’t bring us hope, but they point to the source of hope.
So the prophets did in the Bible. Such as John the Baptist here in the Gospel of Mark, or Isaiah, who lived 700 years before Jesus and is quoted above. Just like the lights, they were not the source of hope, but they prepared the way by as they proclaimed that the source of our hope was on His way! Altogether, the prophets form a powerful witness of the Light of the world. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that we are now the light of the world here to shine His light before others so that they too may have hope through the darkness. Here’s the thing, lights cannot shine unless they are connected to a source of power. So let’s connect to the source of hope, Jesus, and allow His light to shine through us this season.