Don't Add to the Noise, Add to the Light
Written by Ian Jannaway
One of the threads throughout todays preach was that we should try not to add to the noise around us, but that we should try to add to the light.
Have you ever been afraid of the dark? An environment of darkness can take on a whole new meaning for us, we sometimes see monsters where there are none, and sometimes we don’t see the ones that are hiding there.
The new testament writers leveraged the word ‘light’ as a response to the world of darkness they lived in, they after all lived in the Roman world of darkness. They believed that the best word to describe Jesus was light, light shining in the darkness. How dark was the world that Jesus was born into?
Let us read some scriptures together-
Mathew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Jesus came with light!
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
Herod was a child of the darkness.!
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. The magi (wise men from Persia) found where Jesus was laying, but they then had a revelation that their lives and the life of Jesus was in danger from King Herod.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. Interesting to note that the magi were pagans but God used them anyway to fulfil his purposes.
This is Herod’s response, his response is a response of the darkness and the world he lived in-
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
The world into which Jesus was born was one of darkness, death, violence and the abuse of power and injustice. It was into this world that God arrived as a baby, not as an all-powerful conqueror, but as a small vulnerable baby. God’s kingdom always clashes with man’s kingdom, man’s kingdom is darkness, God’s is always light-light shines into the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. Jesus refused to counter the darkness he met with more darkness, he countered it with light. He said this-
Mathew 5;44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
It takes more courage to shine line into the darkness that to curse it. How are we to respond to God’s light? In Mathew 2:2-3 we see the story of Jesus’ birth, the magi worshipped Christ, Herod tried to kill him. The same event – two different responses. Light and darkness. A new king is here in our lives and this means that we have to give up self-will, and when we do that we give every situation over to God and that situation no longer has control over us. Compare the response of Herod to that of the magi in Mathew 2-
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
This raises two points:
We can choose to live in the darkness
We can choose to walk towards the light
How do we walk towards the light? Take time to pray, read the bible and fellowship. Practice these things and it will keep the darkness away.
Mathew 2:10 says this- When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
Looking to Jesus will give you what the world cannot. Light brings joy.
What can you do this Christmas to add more light, and take away from the noise?