“The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined” (Is 9:2). ————————————–    “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life'” (Jhn 8:12). ————————————- “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light” (Ps 36:9).

Someone around here’s been passing off counterfeit money, and getting away with it till now. Holiday busyness has so distracted clerks in stores—and even banks—that they’ve failed to look closely at the paper bills others handed them. But now, after getting bilked, or hearing of someone else who did, they’re checking their currency carefully.

And how do they do that? By holding the bills up to the light. Some things about authentic currency you can’t see any other way.

Likewise, we can only see the greatest truths of scripture by the light of Christ’s Spirit.

Jesus came as a newborn human two millennia ago so that we might have His light. When He later walked the earth as a man, He fulfilled the Isaiah scripture above, as Matthew 4:14-16 declares. Still later, as He prepared His disciples for His departure to the Father, He told them He would send the Holy Spirit, who would guide them into all truth (Jhn 16:7,13). Only by His light do we see the light we need from His word.

What a wonder it was to me when I experienced this phenomenon as a new believer, many years ago! Scripture passages I’d read before took on new and fuller meaning than they’d ever had when I’d read them with just human intellectual understanding.  Some broke through so much like sun streams through cloudbanks that I found myself uttering, “Oh! So that’s what that means!”

I hope you have the light of Christ within you, enabling you to see the truths not evident any other way. If you aren’t sure you do, turn to Him and ask for that light of His, in His Holy Spirit, right now (Lk 11:9-13).

May the many sparkling holiday lights we see this year remind us of the Light of Life found only in Christ Jesus, and may they stir our gratitude to God for this marvelous gift to us!