“Let there be light”; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:1-4

Have you seen Christmas lights going up?  I saw some Christmas lights on houses this week telling me people are eager to look past Coronavirus, lockdowns, and a knock-down, drag-out election season.  After a difficult and dark year, we have made God’s light the theme of our Advent devotional, “Lighten the Darkness”.  It will be refreshing to spend some time each day of Advent savoring and reflecting on the light of God.  

Darkness is opposed to God’s purpose of goodness, beauty, and truth so that God’s first creative act is to speak forth light.  And what is the first thing we do when the lights go out, but to search for a candle or flashlight to put out the darkness?

Throughout the Bible, darkness is a fitting metaphor for many of life’s bitter experiences.  Darkness is a spiritual reality in this world; darkness is a powerful force working evil.  Scripture speaks of the “power of darkness” (Colossians 1:13).   Although darkness covers the earth on the first page of the Bible, by the time we reach the Bible’s last page, God’s defeat of darkness is final.  “There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.  And they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). 

Today and every day there is the promise on the first page of the Bible that the Spirit of God will pierce and break the darkness.  We celebrate Advent as “children of the light” (Ephesians 5:8), confident that darkness shall not prevail.  With each day of Advent, we joyfully proclaim Jesus as God’s true Light who “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

As a ministry devoted to daily reflection on Scripture, we invite you to celebrate Advent with our devotional, Lighten the Darkness: Advent Reflections for the Year of our Lord 2020.   You might share this devotional with family, friends, Bible study, Sunday School class, and church.  Let us share God’s light with others!

You can order your copy or copies here: Lighten the Darkness

A fellow traveler,
Tim