“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn”. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

The Old Testament text from Isaiah reminds us that a new light has come from the Lord. It is shining on all people. This new light reveals God’s glory and chases away all shadows and darkness. The closer this light comes to us, the more we see the darkness in our lives. This light exposes those dark corners of our lives that we prefer to keep hidden. Even though we try to hide our mess, the light of Jesus has shown us that this mess needs cleaning out.

The Light, Jesus, has come into the world:

• not to bring condemnation, but salvation,
• not to rub our noses in the mess of those dark corners, but to sweep them out, to bring healing and reconciliation.

This light is freely ours.

WHEN the Lord tells us to arise, He wants us to get up from the lowly position the enemy has placed us, which is causing us to be depressed and lose hope and to turn to Him and bask in the beauty and the light of the Son of God who loves us.

Jesus is the true light, the genuine light who changes things.

• He is forgiveness.
• He is hope.
• He is encouragement.
• He is a word of love.
• He is strength.
• He is what we need to lighten our personal darkness.
• He is light to every person in need of divine strength to persevere through the darkness of trouble and sickness.
• He is the light who guides us along life’s journey when we have more questions than answers.
• He is the light that dispels the darkness of guilt with his forgiveness and the darkness of fear when we take our last breath. He is the light of Life, eternal life.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, we pray that You would help us to be a reflection of Your light in the darkness of this world. Jesus, we praise You for the light You have shown in the darkness of our lives. We praise You for saving us from our sins, for redeeming us, forgiving us, taking our shame and turning it into honour, taking that which was dark and bringing light. Amen.