Light in Darkness

Isaiah 9:2  “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”

It has been said that the genius of the late Apple guru Steve Jobs was found in his ability to merge cutting edge technology with elegant design to create devices we never knew we needed before, but now find we cannot live without.  Consider how many people today are never disconnected from their iPhones, either attached at the earbuds or by their thumbs!  When one asks, “How did we function before we had smart phones, email, texting or Facebook?” the question is as much statement about how technology shapes our daily lives as it is an inquiry into those pre-microchip days gone by.

As an old-timer, I still have a recollection of a world without email, without the 24/7 oversharing of social media, without the “ding” of a text message accompanying my dinner conversation.  And while sometimes I feel nostalgic about those good ol’ days (usually when I’m dodging a distracted texting driver), I’m the first to admit that my daily life, too, is more than slightly influenced by technology.  Indeed, it is frequently saturated, driven, even controlled by it.

Yet, for those younger than 25, the Internet has always been a part of their lives.  They have always been ubiquitously connected.  They have no alternate experience.  It is all they have ever known. 

Likewise, from a spiritual perspective, Jesus is all I have ever known.  I grew up in a Christian home with all the traditions, expectations, and beliefs of those who follow Jesus.  I never had the “before and after” experience that many Christians have.  My view of the world was shaped, in large part, by where I landed on this planet at birth, with parents who brought up my brothers and me on a path they had already been travelling, as had their parents and grandparents before them.

The prophet Isaiah wrote of a coming Messiah who would bring a great light to people who had been walking in darkness.  I wonder, though:  in their “pre-Jesus” world, did they even realize they needed the light?  If darkness is all one knows, how does one even imagine how much better life could be once illuminated?  And if one has always been in the light, can he have a true appreciation for how cold and dangerous the darkness can be?

I believe God is, and my lifelong experience as a Christ-follower shapes how I understand God and who I am in relation to God.  Like the flashlight app on my iPhone, the example of Christ illuminates my path and shows me the way to go in darkness.  Others who were born into other experiences have other lights on their pathways to God which are not mine.  And while many of my Christian brothers and sisters would disagree with me, I do not find that it is my place to hold in judgment those who follow those other pathways.

Where I do find my place as this Advent begins is in considering how the ancients who walked in darkness might have conceived of a light to illuminate their night.  Their best example would have been the moon, which—as we know now—sheds no light of its own, but only reflects the greater brilliance of the sun.  As one who has always lived in a post-Jesus world, my Advent preparation begins with my own consideration of how I am reflecting the greater light of Jesus to others in the hope that their darkness may be lightened, and that they might catch a glimpse of God’s love.

--Scott

Reflection:  How am I serving as a reflection of the light of Christ today?