Advent: The Light of the World Enters And With It, Life!

Many people today suffer from depression – it can become a sickness that is as real and sometimes as deadly as cancer. Though this sickness is internal, and affects the spirit of a man, there is one physical symptom that seems to be universal – the person appears to be dark, to walk if you will in the cast of a shadow of darkness. They appear to have lost their light!

One of my first understandings of the importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ was a message preached by my father-in-law about light. In his description of light entering the world, he likened that light to understanding – I could receive that. What happened to me after I became a Christian was just that – I received understanding – no longer were the great philosophical questions plaguing my heart and mind – I had understanding, God is… and because God is…I am! I am by His mercy and His grace, His child – created by Him for purpose – loved by Him, in spite of my sin; died for me that I might have life! I understood it, it was no longer complicated, the gospel of Jesus Christ was clear to me and I received it – and I began to LIVE!

We read in the gospel of John:

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”John 8:12 (NLT)

When I followed Him, Jesus Christ, the Son of a Living God, I believed in Him, but slowly and surely, I began to believe in me. I began to believe that there was something good in me, something worthwhile, something that could be given to the world. I began to see that I could write – not as great as many who have wrote timeless classics, but simple words, words that lived! And I began to understand the call of one who has the gift of singing, why they have to sing! Those that have the gift of painting, they have to paint! I began to understand that there is a place deep inside of man that cries out for expression, and just as God made multitudes of flowers, each with a different form and hue, so He gave gifts unto man, and those gifts cry out to adorn the world!

The Light came – that light leads to life..and to life more abundantly!

9I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture.

10The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

11I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His [own] life for the sheep.John 10:9-11 (AMP)

Seize your Kairos Moment,
Maria