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~ A Gentle Spirit ~
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Pastor Jeanne
Stewart, Oklahoma
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Bringing
His Light
I purely enjoy the lights of Christmas celebration and I am
passionate about this last month of our calendar year. It has always been a
tradition of our little Stewart family to tour the city’s Christmas lights on
Christmas Eve. Whether the downtown businesses or each neighborhood of homes,
the splendor of colored lights would dance in each of our eyes. Before everyone
crawled into bed for one more sleep, we all sipped cocoa in our darkened living
room with only the lights of our Christmas tree reflecting wrapped presents and
their secrets within. Our children always knew the true meaning of Christmas
and our Savior Jesus whose birthday it represents.
Over two thousand years ago this same night brought
celebration for the first time. That night the Judean hills lay in darkness
when suddenly Heavenly Light came. There were shepherds in the Judean fields
tending sheep. But this night an Angel of the Lord appeared among them. The
radiance of the Lord’s Glory surrounded them. For it was the announcement of
the night, that Jesus our Savior who is Christ the Lord, was born.
Evening passed and morning came and His life would bring
light to everyone. His Light would shine in the darkness and the darkness could
never extinguish it.
His Glorious Light at Stephen’s Stoning
Stephen lived in God’s glorious Light. A man full of God’s grace
and power, he performed amazing miracles and signs among the people of that
time as recorded in Acts chapter seven. The Jewish leaders were infuriated and
could not stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke and
ministered.
So dragging him out of the city, they falsely accused him
and began to stone him for blaspheming the name of God and Moses. But Stephen,
full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God,
and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And
Stephen told them, ‘…look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing
in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
His Glorious Light at Saul’s Conversion
Saul was one of the witnesses in Stephen’s stoning and he
agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. In fact the accusers of Stephen
took off their coats and laid them at the feet of this young man named Saul,
later to be changed to Paul.
Saul was eager to kill the Lord’s followers so he went to
the high priest and requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus,
asking for their assistance in the arrest of any followers of this Way he found
there.
As Saul was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light
from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground blinded by
this light. And a voice spoke to Saul out of this awe-inspiring light, ‘… I am
Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you
will be told what you must do.”
Our Lives Expressing His Light
This is the message from the very beginning of our Savior’s
life: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So like Saul, who
did not understand the Truth until he experienced the Light and darkness taken
from him, we as true believers are to live in the light, as God is in the
light.
Did Saul remember the light when he answered Jesus’
question with, ‘Who are you Lord?’ I believe Saul saw something in Stephen’s
life that made him want to know the Lord of that light that shone around and
through Stephen. For Saul to even say, ‘Lord’ gives us the impression he saw
something real in the worship of Stephen and wanted that realness of worship
unto his God.
This season of Christmas celebration we need to truly
worship the Savior Jesus. If we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin. This is the true message of the Christmas message. So
let us bring His Light into our celebration this year as our eyes reflect the
secret within the gift we have been given by the Son of God, our Lord Jesus.
Scriptures to study further:
1 John 1:7
Luke 2:11
John 1:5
Acts 7
Acts 8
