Strange Light

Last week I saw a strange light out of the corner of my eye.

My wife and I were driving to a nearby city to do some Christmas shopping. It was early in the evening but still quite dark.

At first I thought the light was an airplane, but it wasn’t moving. Next I thought it might be a radio tower. When I glanced at it again, it appeared to have a number of flashing lights like an ambulance—white and red. Towers usually have flashing red lights.

The light was so high and yet near to the road that I didn’t think it was on a mountain. But it was dark and I could’ve been wrong. It sure was mysterious!

One thing I know—it caught and held our attention as long as we could see it. And it did so even though lights in the sky are a fairly common occurrence in our world.

As I thought more about it the next morning, it reminded me of Christmas.

“Now hold on just a minute! What’s does a strange light have to do with Christmas?”

Think about it. How did God get the attention of the Wise Men who brought gifts to Jesus and his family? If you know the Christmas story, you know he used a light in the sky.

The Bible says, “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’”

Was it a comet they saw? A UFO or a supernatural phenomenon? We don’t know. It was mysterious. But it got their attention and somehow they knew a king had been born!

What would it take for God to get your attention?

God did a lot to get the world’s attention before the first Christmas. Centuries in advance he sent prophets to announce the place of his son’s birth and the manner of his death. Then there was the star and Wise Men from the east that confirmed the time of the Messiah’s birth.

But God had a lot of competition for attention when Jesus was born. There had been a worldwide census for the entire Roman Empire—plus all the political intrigue of the day. The world was too busy to pay attention to a baby born to peasants in a small town.

It’s no different today. Even with a national holiday in America that remembers his birth, Jesus has a lot of competition from retailers, revelers and relatives. But to find the true “peace on earth, goodwill toward men” we must set aside the demands of the season and find Jesus.

The Bible calls Jesus “The true light that gives light to every man.” God said, “Listen to him.”

Jesus claimed, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” From this and other scriptures it is clear that Jesus is speaking of spiritual truth. In fact those who discover God’s truth often say, “It was like a light came on”!

Did you ever think about why people put special lights up at Christmastime? Maybe it’s to remind us of Jesus, the Light of the World.

So the next time you see Christmas lights, let them remind you that God sent light into our world so we might see Jesus, the Son of God. And seeing, we might believe in him and receive God’s free gift of eternal life through Christ’s death on the cross.

In fact the stated purpose of the New Testament Gospel of John is “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ [Messiah], the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”

What about that strange light we saw? We’ll probably never know what it was. But Jesus and his love for you is something you can know for sure. I hope you find him this Christmas.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!