My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Isaiah 26: 9
No matter who you are, we all long for light. Christmas 2025 occurred two months ago. I notice, however, some of the Christmas lights are still burning each night. I live in an apartment complex, and if I look out my windows after dark, the neighborhood is lit up with colorful lights. The lady in the apartment next door has colorful lights adorning her balcony; in the apartment above her, a Christmas tree glows with tiny white lights shining out through the window; across the yard from me an apartment glows with blue lights as soon as darkness arrives and another one with white lights. As I drive about the area at night, many homes continue to have outdoor lights. Other homes, including mine, have battery candles in our windows year-round. We are longing for light. We all long for the Light of the World.
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
1 Thessalonians 5: 5
As the verse above suggests, Christian believers we are children of the light—of the day. So much of our lives is surrounded by darkness: financial, political, global, interpersonal conflict, to name a few. Our gift to others is to bring light into their lives with the Gospel message. We recall, perhaps, a not too distant past when we, too, were in the dark, and now, how we live today is the means to opening the window and letting light in for our friends and neighbors to find the Light people so desperately need. We need to be reminded that once we were not just in the dark; we were darkness.
At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Ephesians 5: 8-10
“All that is good and right and true,” are our hands to pull away the shade obscuring the Light of the world to them.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5: 22-25
When we set aside our envies, greediness, and struggles for control, we are able to live out the fruit of the Spirit in our day by day walk with our neighbors and friends. Only then can they see the light of Christ in us in what we say, in what we tell them about Jesus, and how we present the Gospel message to them. Words mean nothing without the evidence of Christ’s reflection in our lives. This is especially true if we were the embodiment of darkness in our past. It is the lasting transformation into reflecting His Light, that proves the dramatic change is real.
Challenge: Do a self-assessment based on the verses above to determine how much light you reflect for Jesus; pray to the Holy Spirit to help you to develop these attributes more and more as you walk with the Lord Jesus Christ day by day.
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, help us to build the character of Christ in such a way that we will embody His light and reflect it into the darkness about for His sake and in His name. Amen.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5: 14-16
All Scriptures taken from English Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.
