Dear church,

The One True Light

It was lovely this Christmas season to have the lighting of our advent wreath each week and then to have the candles all lite during our Christmas Eve Service. It was beautiful, warm and relaxing to worship in the presence of so much light. It truly reminded me of the gift that I know I possess since the Holy Spirit touched my heart. That I have the one true light of Jesus Christ in me and I am so grateful and thankful!

Our world is full of darkness and many men, women and children are searching for the truth, the true light, which we know to be Jesus Christ, but they have been deceived into believing false gods or earthly things will give them hope, peace, joy, and eternal life. Today, truth appears to be an individual choice. I choose my truth, for myself, as if I have control and can do or say whatever I wish and that must make it “the truth”.  This is being passed down to our children, that you have the power to change what and who you were created to be and no one else has the right to tell you that you are mistaken.  We live in a world that is openly lying to our most venerable young people and selling it as present-day truth.

People need to hear the Truth – they need the light of Christ to be shown to them.  Satan is working hard to confuse and destroy souls from young to old. As people who know Christ, what are we doing with our faith when it comes to our neighbors, our colleagues and our extended family members.  We have the one true light of Jesus Christ, the answer to confusion, anxiety, fear, sin, and darkness.  We have the true hope, joy and peace because we have Christ in our hearts.  In John 8:12 Jesus says that “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”  As followers of Christ, we are the light of the world because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. I remember a song we used to sing in Sunday School – “This Little Light of Mine” – one of the verses said – “hide it under a bushel? No!” and
as children we all yelled this word NO, because it was fun to yell in church, but also we wanted all to know that we had the love of Christ and that we were not going to let anything or anyone hide our light.  Do we have the same burning desire as adults to show our light to the world or are we hiding it under a bushel or letting Satan “blow it out” (another verse to the song).  People need Christ desperately and many are searching.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” – John 1:5.  Christ has already conquered death and Satan!  Are we ready this year to reach out to those around us and spread the love of Christ openly and boldly?  I know for many of us that this is outside of our comfort zone, but remember that God will give you the words that the person you are witnessing to needs to hear.

Many of us make resolutions for the new year to lose weight, to be kinder, to spend more time with family or to do something unhealthy less often.  Let’s make being BOLD FOR CHRIST our New Year’s Resolution. We know that the Holy Spirit goes before us.  All we need to do is be willing vessels ready for the Lord to use and to take the opportunities the Lord puts in our path to share His love and message of salvation with others.

I pray that each of us will be filled with the love of Christ, and the light of Christ will shine brightly through us for all the world to see each day!

In Him,
Dennet Sidell