Charles Stanley (December-20-2024) Daily Devotional: Jesus, the Light.
Our Savior came to illuminate our lives and enable us to shine for Him in a dark world.
John 1:4-5 -In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it; John 1:9 - There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man
In the Bible, God’s first spoken words are “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3 - Then God said, ``Let there be light"; and there was light). O Oriens, the next antiphon from “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” is translated “O Dayspring.” Originally meaning the dawn of a new day, the term refers to the illuminating presence that God’s Word brought to the dark and formless world.
The same language describes the new creation that the Lord brings to us (2 Corinthians 5:7 - for we walk by faith, not by sight). John says that in Jesus—the eternal Word—is life, which is the “Light of mankind [that] shines in the darkness” (John 1:4-5). The other Gospel writers don’t miss the connection either. When Jesus moves to Capernaum after John the Baptist’s arrest, Matthew recalls Isaiah’s prophecy about the light coming to a dark place. People “sitting in darkness … sitting in the land and shadow of death” were visited by that light (Matthew 4:16 - THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED).
Though parts of the world remain in shadow, we know that the Light has come—and He shines brighter than any sun. Today, ask God to illuminate every corner of your life “to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 - For God, who said, ``Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.). And remember: As we “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7 - but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.), we receive God’s forgiveness and are reconciled to Him. Then He makes us shine in a dark world.
