Monday, December 8, 2025

A lady shared at Pot Trust meal yesterday about the "zinc spark" - at the moment a sperm meets an egg, there is a brief spark of light that has now been captured on video.  My son (Isaac) had shared this with me a few months back.   It's quite beautiful.  To me, it demonstrates that God, who is light (1 John 1:5), is the giver of life.  All life is generated at God's command and for His good pleasure.  

December is considered the darkest month with the winter solstice occurring on the 21st.  The sun will set today in Gretna later this afternoon; before 5pm!  It has long been observed that depression becomes a bigger issue in the darker months (literally darker months).  People living in areas of the world with less daylight also struggle more with depression.   Does life bring light?  Or does light bring life?  Might be worth pondering on that for a bit.  

In the Bible, the very first words that God spoke were "let there be light."  Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).  Light gives life.  God's light, in a sense, generates life.  Both physical life (the zinc spark) and spiritual life.   We need more light!  

In one of our favorite Christmas passages, Isaiah 9, we read, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone" (9:2).   We have Jesus!   Yell it out:  WE HAVE JESUS!   The great light arrived.  We need not walk in darkness anymore.  This is good news.  Those struggling with darkness - yes, even those who are Christ-followers - need more light!   The answer isn't secular psychology mumbo-jumbo.   The answer is accepting the light of the gospel, a better understanding of the light, and more time in the light.  

Are you in some dreary, dark days right now?    I invite you to do the following:  

• Spend time in the light of God's Word.   It is a light and a lamp to you.   - Psalm 119:105; 2 Pet. 1:19
• Spend more time with God's people.  More time at church.  More time in fellowship.  More time one-on-one.   Reach out to someone today.  Believers act as God's light in this world - Mat. 5:14-16; Eph. 5:8-9
• Spend more time in prayer and song to God.   Have you sang a prayer?   The image from Revelation 4 and the worship at the throne are powerful.  Flashes of lightening and worship (or is it prayer?).   
• Serve others.  Isn't it interesting that acts of service are likened to letting your light shine before men (Matt. 5:16)?  Perhaps serving others operates like our own "zinc sparks."  
• Enjoy physical light.  Get out into creation.  Don't stay in the dark.  Eventually God's glory will be our physical light but, for now, sunlight helps!  Romans 1 says that “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…” (v. 20).  See His creation!  Enjoy it.  

An old camp song is ratting in my head... "Walkin' in the Light" -   Goes like this:

Walkin’, walkin’, walkin’ in the light
Walkin’, walkin’, walkin’ in the light

(Girls) Walkin’ in the light, ooh, ooh
We can trust each other
Walkin’ in the light, ooh, ooh
We can see ourselves

It’s a sad situation; people running scared
It’s a crazy mixed up world
Where there’s nothing to fear but fear!
(2-3-4, whad’ya think those feet are for!

Our feet are for walking in the light.  Your life began with a spark of LIGHT -  don't stop walking in it!  

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).  This is embracing the cross.  Those who followed Christ early on were willing to endure any sacrifice for Jesus.  They understood that the “cross” was not just a term implying a trial.  It was an instrument of execution that was shameful, severe, and offensive.  Jesus calls us to “take up our cross” as in be like one condemned to death.  Considering the apostles who followed Him, the meaning for us is severe; He is talking about literal death if need be.  How much more so must we make sacrifices for Jesus.  Are you embracing the cross?  And the way of the cross?  Be the church.