The True Light

“Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” Psalm 55:22

At the Christmas Eve Candlelight service a few days ago Pastor Reese closed with the following; “there are millions of people in our world who willingly desire to share the darkness with our world and only a few thousand who will lovingly bring the True Light into the darkest places of this world”.  Please consider the following; if you gave me a Christmas gift and I never opened it, you would be disappointed; wouldn’t you?  And it would be a worthless gift, because I don’t receive the benefit of a gift I never opened.  Jesus Christ is God’s Christmas gift to you, me and this Haitian girl.  Yet some of us have gone Christmas after Christmas and never opened the best gift of all: God’s gift of salvation.  Why even celebrate Christmas if you’re not going to open the best gift?  It doesn’t make sense to leave unwrapped the gift of your past; forgiven, a purpose for living, and a home in Heaven.  We know about and have the True Light of this world, why not let it shine in the darkness surrounding us?  I close today with the words to the hymn ‘If thou but suffer God to guide thee’ which was written by Georg Neumark in 1640.  It is a long hymn that written a long, long time ago but the words have such great directions for today.

“If thou but suffer God to guide thee and hope in Him through all thy ways, He'll give thee strength, whate'er betide thee, and bear thee through the evil days.  Who trusts in God's unchanging love builds on the Rock that naught can move.  What can these anxious cares avail thee, these never-ceasing moans and sighs?  What can it help if thou bewail thee o'er each dark moment as it flies?  Our cross and trials do but press the heavier for our bitterness.  Be patient and await His leisure in cheerful hope, with heart content to take whate'er thy Father's pleasure and His discerning love hath sent, nor doubt our inmost wants are known to Him who chose us for His own.  God knows full well when times of gladness shall be the needful thing for thee.  When He has tried thy soul with sadness and from all guile has found thee free, He comes to thee all unaware and makes thee own His loving care.  Nor think amid the fiery trial that God hath cast thee off unheard, that he whose hopes meet no denial must surely be of God preferred.  Time passes and much change doth bring and sets a bound to everything.  All are alike before the Highest; tis easy to our God, we know, to raise thee up, though low thou liest, to make the rich man poor and low.  True wonders still by Him are wrought who setteth up and brings to naught.  Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving, perform thy duties faithfully, and trust His Word, though undeserving, thou yet shalt find it true for thee.  God never yet forsook in need the soul that trusted Him indeed.”  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen. 

May God be with you…Jay