Let Your Lights Shine

John 1:1-18

With the bright lights of the festive season now extinguished and far behind us we move on into the second month of the New Year. Even though the light of the daytime is gradually being lengthened, if you have a secular day job like I have, then by the time you leave work at the end of the working day it is dark. Instead of moping about waiting for the light nights to come, what an excellent time for us as Christians to let our lights shine (Philippians 2:15). We have a light that no darkness can overcome. This is the light that in the reading above is described as being the True Light.

The “man sent from God” (v.6) was John the Baptist who, in John 5:35, is described as being “a burning and a shining light”. Even so, verse 8 of John 1, tells us he was not “that Light” but was sent to bear witness of that Light. It was Jesus Christ the Son of God, who in the beginning was The Word , who was the True Light. He became flesh and dwelt amongst us and said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Therefore, as in the beginning of God's physical creation the light was the source of life, so also in the new spiritual creation the True Light is the origin of eternal life.

As followers of Christ, we who were once darkness are now light in the Lord. By God's grace and through faith we have been delivered from the powers of the darkness of the prince of the air who is Satan, and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God's love, which is a kingdom of light. Through His Spirit Christ now dwells in our hearts and with His light He enlightens our understanding to know the riches of the glory of our inheritance in the light. If, therefore, we submit and allow Him to work fully in our lives, His light can shine through us as a witness to His light and glory. During the last of these wintry dark or grey days, can we be a burning and a shining light like John?