There once was a nation where everything was dark, where life was bleak, and hope was a thing of fairy tales. Not only was there physical darkness all around but the citizens who inhabited this land were filled with a darkness within themselves, the kind of darkness that caused them pain to varying degrees, some of the citizens tried to suppress this pain, while others were reminded of it daily, some even were so aware of it that it becomes unbearable and so they desperately tried to search for any relief and any light.
Now you would think that the citizens would complain to their leaders and demand some form of change and solution to their constant problem, but unfortunately, the citizens of this nation didn’t really know or understand who ruled them, and they didn’t know that the ones who ruled them intended for them to go about life in this way. Their rulers did give them some pleasures, they give them just enough fun so that the citizens could be distracted from their pitiful state, and they told their subjects all the right lies so that those who did want change would end up at a dead end.
This nation had been functioning like this for so long that its people couldn’t remember any other way of life, darkness had oppressed them, and it seemed like nothing would ever change, but there came a day when a King from a country that was infinitely superior to this nation decided to help these poor citizens. This King came from a land that was full of light because He was its light source, He was a being unlike any other, and His subjects enjoyed a way of life that could not even compare to the way the people of this nation were living, the people who lived in that dark land had a way of death, not life. However everything changed for the citizens when the foreign King decided to go to their country and show them a better way.
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In this short story, I tried to capture what kind of world Jesus was entering into when He came to earth. The world Jesus was entering was a world that was dominated by sin, death, and Satan. Sin provided a temporary distraction and pleasure from the reality of the world’s decay, but if people really looked around them they would have realized that was not the way things were supposed to be. To a certain extent they did realize this but they were like people moving in a dark world stumbling and tripping, all the while trying to find answers and solutions to their internal and external problems.
John 1:4-5 says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Jesus is life. Our lives outside Him can’t even really be called life. Jesus is the only true light that came down and illuminated the dark world around us. He is the light that showed us that we were living far below God’s plan for us - He showed us what it meant to be grounded in God’s deep love. His light showed us what it meant to no longer be slaves to our sin, slaves to the corruption within, and He showed us what it meant to walk in the freedom of grace. Jesus didn’t have to come and do this. He left a world full of glory, love, and beauty in order to bring that same goodness down to us.
Jesus wants His light to shine in us, on earth as it is in heaven. In Him we can let go of our past darkness and, if we will trust Him, He will make us into lamps that carry His light, His goodness, and His love in this dark world! So why not say yes to Him and step into the light!
Be blessed!