“Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”

— Isaiah 9:2

“Why are there so many lights, Daddy?” Have you ever wondered the same thing at Christmastime, when you see hundreds of houses decked with colorful, twinkling lights? The question about the Christmas lights came on a dark December night from a four-year-old girl. Her father perceptively answered, “Because Jesus is the light of the world.”

Before the Light of the World came to earth, the world was very dark. The Golden Age of Greek philosophy had passed, and an intellectual barrenness had covered the landscape of the mind. The faith in the Homeric gods had all but vanished completely, and skepticism had paled the souls of many. The moral structure of society had collapsed everywhere, and humanity had sunk deep into the mire of depravity and vice. When there was nothing but discouragement, disillusion, and despair—when everything was the bleakest and darkest and grimmest—Jesus came.

By no mere coincidence does Christmas come in December. Christmas comes after the season when the dead leaves have flown across the ground with every gust of wind. Christ did not arrive in the time of blooming flowers and balmy breezes. Christ did not arrive in the time of fields ripe for harvest. He arrived when frost lay sheeted over the earth. He came in the midst of a bleak and dark December under a glittering star. This reminds us that Christ came for those who feel frostbitten by life. He came for those who are snowed under. He came for those overwhelmed by the cold realities of life. He came to soothe and rock and cradle and kiss and lullaby a cold, hurt, crying world.

Christmas makes December beautiful and bright. Christ makes His birthday a time of joy, miracles, and light. Thank Him today for the Light He brought to the world at Christmastime and for the Light He brings daily to your life.

Before Christ came, the devil made it
“always winter and never Christmas.”
Paraphrase Of C.S. Lewis