The True "Light" of Christmas

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Here we are with the Christmas season upon us once again. And that means it's time for the local "Holiday Display" contest all over the place.  All around towns people are putting up their Christmas decorations and putting up their Christmas lighting displays. . . Which reminds me of a story I read about old Crazy Charlie, who always went all out to win the towns decorating contest.

So, there was Crazy Charlie out in his front yard on Saturday, 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!

I think about all the people in towns all over the country putting up their Christmas lights and Holiday displays in hopes of winning the coveted award of having it proclaimed as the best display in town.

I thought of good, old Crazy Charlie and how hard he had worked at that display of his . . . And how he lit up the entire neighborhood with all those Christmas lights of his. Then I thought of how much better, how much brighter, the whole world would be if all the people putting up Christmas lights were to know the True Light of the World.

Let’s take this Christmas to spread the true light of the world. As we enjoy the beautiful decorations and lights all over town tae a minute to see how you can spread His Light.  

Dear Lord, we pray that we will show Your light this Christmas season. Help all those around us see Your light when they see us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.