“You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others,
so that they may see your good works and give glory
to your Father who is in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:14–16)

Christmas is nearly here, and one sign of the times is the Christmas lights.  I make no reservations here, those lights are the bane of my existence, the kryptonite to my Christmas joy.

But not everyone feels the way I do about Christmas lights.  There are those who make Christmas lights on their house an art form.  There are also those who take the lights from artistic expression to sheer garishness, inspired by the lighting designs of Clark Griswold himself.

I remember watching Crazy Charlie out in his front yard on the day after Thanksgiving, with all the decorations and Christmas lights strewn all over the place. He had his Christmas music blaring away for the whole neighborhood to hear, as he busily worked at putting up the decorations. And of course once again, just like every other year, you could hear him fussin’ and a cussin’ above the music as he desperately tried to untangle all of those Christmas lights.

Finally, after several hours of his fussin’ and a cussin’, good old Charlie had all the lights and decorations in place. By that time it was already dark outside and it was time to light up the display (or to be honest, the whole neighborhood ).  With the “Little Drummer Boy” blaring away, Charlie plugged in the lights and WHAMMO . . . in the blink of an eye, the whole neighborhood was lit up bright as day!

While we all love the lights of Christmas, how much better, how much brighter, the whole world would be if all those people putting up Christmas lights were to know the true Light of the World.  In John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  How much better the whole world would be if we all carried that light within us as we read about in Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

How much better things would be in this world if we carried that light forward to share it with others as we read in Matthew 5:14&16, “You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Friends, my lights are up, and yours may be as well, but that does not mean that our job is done.  When you know the Light of the World, when Christ is your light and your salvation, won’t you shine as a light for the world to see.  This Christmas, may the brightest light the world sees be the light of your love for God and for your neighbor.