“Light of the World”
In the beginning: before creating the world, before creating us, or saying “let there be light,” God was present in the vast formless, emptiness, and darkness. From the story of creation one thing that is made abundantly clear is when God speaks, creation responds (Marshman, 2019). Another thing we see in the creation story in Genesis is that God, since the beginning, as we can see with Adam and Eve, moves towards us and initiates relationship with us. He does this even though we don’t deserve it. Our God wants to be with his people. Although the Lord wants to be with his people, sin has separated us from God and it must be dealt with because God is holy. In dealing with this separation, God sends his Son, showing that he wants to be with His people so badly that He became one of them (Marshman, 2019).
In Megan Marshman’s sermon, Worth The Wait, she describes this divide between God and man by explaining that every world religion has a metaphorical staircase of people wanting to climb their way up to God because they want to be close to Him. Jesus is the difference between Christianity and every other world religion. God knew that you could not climb up the staircase to get to God. The staircase is infinite because our God is holy and perfect. God, however, knowing that you could not climb the staircase to get to Him, came down to be with us (Marshman, 2019). This is the Christmas story. Charles Spurgeon has stated, “Then, if Jesus Christ be ‘God with us,’ let us come to God without any question or hesitancy. Whoever you may be you need no priest or intercessor to introduce you to God, for God has introduced himself to you” (Spurgeon, 1875).
Through this drawing, I sought to show Christ bridging the gap between God and man. The hand reaching down represents God, while the other reaching up represents man and is actually my own. The lights are to represent Jesus. This, as well as the title, is based off of John 8:12, which states, ‘Then Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”’ Upon reflection of when I was walking through life without the Light of the world walking through it with me, I see how all-encompassing the darkness truly was. Although He came down to be with us, bridging that gap, we still have to take that step of giving our lives to Him and allowing Him in. Without Him, I was living without peace and no hope in the midst of my circumstances. With Him, however, no matter what hardships come or how dark life gets, I can have peace and hope in the midst of it. John 1:5 states, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” As soon as light shines in a dark room, the light engulfs the darkness. I have found that life with Jesus is no different.
References
God With Us. The Spurgeon Center. (1875, December 26). https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/god-with-us/#flipbook/
Marshman, M. (2019, December 1). Christmas At Willow: Worth The Wait | Megan Marshman. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZZwIz2hzY4&t=2336s
