His Light In Us

There are light bulbs which are advertised as lasting up to 25 years. I have bought a couple of those bulbs. I since have wondered how the manufacturer knows they will last that long. These bulbs are new products. Obviously, they have not been tested to see if they can actually endure for 25 years. They could just as easily have said they would last for 50 years. Adults who buy a bulb like that probably won’t live twenty five more years, certainly not 50 years. If you are like me you would probably forget which bulbs have that guarantee anyway, and who is going to keep a receipt for 25 years. I am surprised there are not more products that make that same claim.

The thing about light, even if it burns for 50 years, is it will eventually go out. Our battery powered Christmas lights at some point begin to dim and then stop shining. Even the eternal flames, as they are called, will be extinguished some day. The huge forest fires out west that burn for weeks finally burn themselves out. Many stars like our sun have ceased to burn over the years. There is no light that lasts forever, except one. What light never goes out?  What is the Eternal Light who shines brightly forever and ever?

We know that Jesus Christ is the Everlasting Light.  His light shines in our world even today. Those of us who have asked him to come into our lives have his light in us. Jesus, incarnate, lives in us and shines in us. Each of us have become a source of the glorious light of Jesus. One of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard is His Light in Us. Our choir is singing that song in our Christmas concert this weekend.

The song says to us when we were lost, “His cry is here, the crying of a Child...I know Christ’s call is hidden flame...it makes my spirit flame with hope. Renewed his hope, his light in us, incarnate, fragile our Lord appears...Eternal, so perfect, his cry of changeless love.” Jesus calls our name because he loves us, and he wants to save us from sin. He gives the sinner eternal hope.

I have gotten chills every time we have practiced this wonderful song. It is so moving to those who have the light of Christ shining in them. Just to think that our Lord Jesus the Son of the living God would dare to give me the responsibility of bearing the eternal flame of his glorious love is awesome. We who claim the name of Jesus Christ do have the responsibility to be his light to a dark world that is perishing. May our hope in the Light of the world be renewed this Christmas, and may his glorious light shine bright in our lives.