Candle of light, calling us out of the darkness

Yesterday marked the beginning of the second week of Advent, when we light, along with the candle of hope, the candle of light. Just as the candle of hope had layers of significance - reminding us of the promises of God for our lives now and challenging us to trust in His unfailing faithfulness - so also the candle of light has multiple themes in which it encourages and inspires us.

"The people who walked in darknessHave seen a great light;Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,Upon them a light has shined" - Isaiah 9:2

To all who are blinded and bound in the darkness of sin, Jesus comes bringing light, offering a way of escape into fullness of life. That is a magnificent part of the glory and wonder that Christmas is all about! - that Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, the One who spoke and physical light was created, the One who shines so brightly with spiritual light and holiness that the new earth will need no sun for the brightness of His presence, would cover himself in the rags of a mortal body and live in the land of the shadow of death that we might through Him thus come to know the light ourselves. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it marvelous? How would we believe and talk about something so extraordinary without breathless wonder, if we were not somehow numbed by familiarity and doubt to its brilliant power?

But there is another aspect of the coming of light: we must receive it, we must choose to walk in it. Light can be frightening, because it leaves nothing hidden - it reveals our sins and our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses.

"And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." - John 3:19-20

If we have this desire for hiddenness within us, because we are ashamed of our sin and yet don't wish to give it up, it is for us to heed the cry of John the Baptist, who came preparing the way for Jesus's ministry on earth, and who is still relevant to us to help us prepare our hearts for Jesus's ministry in our lives:

"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!' For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'"" - Matthew 3:1-3

 So during this week of Advent, as we celebrate the coming of light into the darkness, let us also open our own hearts to the coming of light, and repent of the darkness we hold within us. For He has come to forgive our sins, and the sins of the world, and His desire for us is that we might know Him and walk with Him where He walks - in the pure light of righteousness.