Free Grace Women

Of all the many wonderful things which work together to make the Christmas season special, one of the traditions I love best is Christmas lights! Some of my fondest childhood memories of the holiday include walking up the path to my grandmother’s house each Christmas Eve and seeing her humble home adorned with beautiful, frosted, turquoise lights. And I’ll never forget the excitement of piling into our car and heading out into the chilly night to see all of the special light displays across my hometown of Tulsa.

Even into adulthood, my feeling of thrill at the magic of Christmas lights has never waned. And yet, my perspective on them has shifted slightly. Early in my marriage, I discovered that my husband was not quite so enthusiastic about continuing with all of my many long-held Christmas traditions. Among others, stringing up lights on the exterior of our home became a thing of the past. In all honesty, it was a painful thing to relinquish! For me, it wasn’t just a meaningless tradition—it was a symbol of promise. Dramatic as it may sound, I strongly dislike the cold, and between the cold and the gray, winter feels like death to me. Yet the warmth and luminescence of Christmas lights always stood out to me as a reminder (both literally and figuratively) that it wouldn’t always be dark and cold.

I remember a night in December several years ago when I was driving around bemoaning the serious lack of holiday sparkle around the town in which we currently live. Amid my lament, however, I looked up and noticed the moon looming bigger and brighter than I had ever seen before. At that moment, I was struck by how much grander the moon was than my beloved Christmas lights. I felt ashamed to have placed such an inordinate focus on something that paled in comparison to the heavenly lights with which our loving Father had decorated the night sky. And just as quickly, it dawned on me that the moon itself was but a dim reflection of His light.

That same holiday season, the kids and I began attending Advent services at a local Bible Church in our area. The church’s worship team had produced a beautiful album of original songs (which I purchased) to go along with the teaching, and for us, one song began to play on repeat.

The song, entitled, “O Great Light,”[1] harkens back to Isaiah’s poignant prophecy so often quoted at Christmastime:

Like the song, that verse became dear to us that Christmas. Our family had been going through some tough times and the Holy Spirit used this familiar passage of Scripture to illuminate the dark corners of our hearts with the hope of His radiance.

This theme echoes throughout the pages of the Bible. Earlier in John, the Apostle states,

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5 NKJV).

In verse 9 he elaborates, writing of Jesus,

“That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”

First Timothy 6:16 declares that He

“dwells in unapproachable light,”

and James 1:17 refers to Him as

“the Father of the lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (CSB).

Many similar depictions can be found in the Old Testament as well. In the book of Habakkuk, we find this description of the Lord:

“His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand…” (Habakkuk 3:4 NASB)

But perhaps the most stunning of these comes from a vision the Lord gave to the prophet Ezekiel, regarding His glory:

I still recall the first time I heard that particular passage read aloud in church on a Sunday morning not too many years ago. I had never heard anything like it! I realized then that my view of the beauty and brightness of my Savior had been tragically limited. It was as though I had been wearing glasses with the wrong magnification, and had suddenly gotten the right prescription. Once again, the Holy Spirit was challenging me to set my sights on the most luminous Light of all—the Light that never burns out or grows dim—and to pin my hopes on the promise that one day soon, the darkness will dissipate, and we will see Him in all His dazzling splendor.

I used to imagine that the streets of His kingdom would be ablaze with twinkle lights. That was the most beautiful sight I could possibly envision. But the celestial scene set forth at the end of the book of Revelation challenges my finite human conception yet again. Speaking of the New Jerusalem, the Apostle John writes:

“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Revelation 21:23 NKJV).

Oh, the beauty that awaits us! This Christmas, amid the gleam and glow of holiday bulbs, I pray our gaze will be fixed upon Jesus Christ, the true reason for the season, and the most radiant Light of all!

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[1] To listen to the song and/or watch the video, please click here

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