Returning with Light
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
Today’s Text: Luke 2:8-20 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The shepherds returned to “living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” (verse 8). They returned to being shepherds. But now, their lives were different. Now, their lives were marked by “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
As I mentioned in my message on Sunday, we all have to return into a world that is covered in darkness. But in that darkness, we live with a new light, Jesus Christ.
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.
— John 1:4-5
We bear witness to Him, as He commanded His followers to do (Acts 1:8). We do so by glorifying God—that is, living out the good news of Jesus Christ. And we do so by praising Him. We glorify and praise God for all that we have heard, because we have faith in the testimony of the apostles, the word of God. And we glorify and praise God for all the things that we have seen, because He hears our prayers and answers our prayers, and we now understand the world around us through the lens of God’s word.
When we have faith in what the word of God tells us, the world starts to make sense according to His word. Without faith in the word of God, we cannot see God in the world, and we cannot glorify and praise God for all that we hear and see.
The only alternative is darkness and to live in darkness.
It is only by God’s grace that the Light of Christ has been given to us. But it is up to us to (1) choose the Light over darkness and (2) live as Light rather than the darkness.
Actually, (1) and (2) should be exactly the same, as it was for the shepherds. But the devil has tricked “enlightened” humanity into separating what we think from what we say and do. That is why the apostle Paul could say,
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
— Romans 10:9
For the apostle Paul, confessing Christ and believing in Christ go hand in hand; they are the same thing. From that, I can say: A step of faith is a step of obedience, and a step of obedience is a step of faith.
But today, people receive the gospel, stripped of all its power. And the power of the gospel is obedience to the full counsel of Scripture. If a pastor consistently neglects to teach obedience to the full counsel of Scripture, he will have an incredibly difficult conversion with the Lord when they meet face to face. On the other hand, if a pastor consistently teaches obedience to the full counsel of Scripture, then the onus is on the listener to shine the light of Christ into this dark world that needs Jesus and needs Jesus now.
Father, You have given us everything that we need for Life and Light. You have given us Your Son Jesus. You have given us Your very word. Forgive us for “interpreting” Your word to suit our own agenda. But thank You for Your patience and mercy. Continue to grow us in maturity, especially as it comes to our obedience. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
