Light in the Darkness

If you read my monthly letter to our churches and supporters back in December, you will recognize a theme here, but I think it is one that bears repeating and a bit of expounding. 

We have recently experienced the Christmas and New Year season. This is a time of year that presents exceptional opportunities for the Church to impact our communities. While there are likely multiple reasons, I think the heart of the issue is that there is a deep longing for renewal in our society, both within and outside the church. We must respond to that need as ambassadors of Christ.
One reason the Christmas story resonates so deeply is that proclamation made by the angels in a field so long ago: “To you a Savior is born.” Now by definition, a savior is one who saves you from danger or destruction. Even those who do not believe are longing for someone to save them from the obvious destruction that is around us. People who do not believe would love to have “peace on earth.” And so, the message of Christmas resonates throughout society.
Who we are and what we have is broken, and we can all feel it. Romans 8:22 (ESV) says “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Everything and everyone on this earth has been marred by the effects of sin. Nothing is as it should be. Everyone on earth can sense that, even if they will not admit what their spirit can clearly see.
Just a week after Christmas, we celebrate New Year’s Day. Everyone can agree on that holiday, because it has no religious meaning. In fact, it seems to me that it has no meaning whatsoever. We are celebrating because it is a year since the last time we celebrated it. I suppose it is a birthday party for the planet. Please don’t misunderstand. I am not saying it is bad for you to celebrate New Year’s. Put on the silly hat, blow the horn, watch the ball drop, or whatever you like to do.
But I want to consider why it is a popular holiday. The focus on New Year’s is the idea that our future is bright (or at least it is what we make of it). Folks make resolutions about how they will improve themselves in the new year, they celebrate together that the new year has finally arrived. “Out with the old, in with the new” so to speak.
In my opinion, this holiday highlights the effect of sin, perhaps even more strikingly than Christmas. Sin has negatively impacted every single facet of life on earth. Folks are suffering from illness, struggling to make payments, enduring the death of loved ones, going through relationship issues or divorce, doubting their self-worth, contemplating suicide, getting confused about their own gender, worrying about global wars, and so much more – because of sin.
And after a year of going through all this brokenness and difficulty, people are ready for the year to end and a better one to begin. If I can just push forward, maybe find a better job or a better spouse or actually finish a couple of resolutions this year, things will be better. A new year is like a clean slate, and perhaps I can get it right this time.
So, Christmas and New Year’s are a time when everyone around us is thinking about how broken things have become and how much they long for something better. They know they are stumbling around in the darkness, and they are looking for a light.

And this is where we must shine.

We have the light that they are looking for within us, and we must be faithful to help others see it. We know why the world is broken and we know how it will someday be fixed. But it is easy to fall into the same pattern as everyone around us. Our lives are broken and imperfect too. We must decide whether we will join in hoping next year will be better, or proclaim that even in our imperfect lives, God is at work, and he will restore all things when he returns!
This is what we find in John 1:9-13 (ESV) about the Christmas story: “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world… He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
It does not get much simpler than that. The light has pierced the darkness, and if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are adopted into his kingdom of light. There is nothing to fear, and no circumstance is too horrible to face, because you are headed to a new home with no imperfections. This birth “not of blood… but of God” is the new start everyone is longing for!
We are the Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches. “Evangelical” because we believe that the good news of the Gospel must be shared with others, and “Bible” because that’s where the good news is found. Do you see all the people around you who are hoping the new year is better than the last, grasping for some resolution that will make life more bearable? Those people are a ripe harvest field, and God wants you to go to work.

Share the truth! Share your joy! Shine his light in the darkness! 

Oh, and Happy New Year!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin Stone has been in full or part-time ministry for over 30 years. Before accepting the position of President, he spent 12 years as the full-time Pastor of Worship at Crosspoint Bible Church in Omaha, NE - one of our FEBC churches.