Rescued

Most of us remember the plight of the Chilean miners a few years ago.  Trapped beneath the earth for day after day.  Hopeless it seemed.  We all wondered if they would be able to be rescued.  Finally they were.  Saved from almost certain death, they were pulled out of what could have been their grave and received the gift of life.

We are the Chilean miners

Recently, I have run across the word RESCUE twice in scripture.  Both reminded me of the plight that you and I are in without Christ as our Savior.  You can even check them out here and here.

If you read those scriptures, you can see that our plight is worse than that of the miners.

Without Christ, we live in a domain of darkness

Like the miners, our lives are dark without light if Christ is not in our lives.  However, Christ dispels the darkness.  He does not merely give us light, though.  He is the Light.  He rescues us from the darkness that surrounds us and envelopes us.  He even transfers us to a kingdom where darkness does not exist.

Without Christ, we experience the wrath to come

We don’t really like this part.  We don’t like the idea  that we live in a condition where we will face God’s wrath.  Heck, we don’t even like to acknowledge that God has any wrath to begin with.  At least not for us.  Maybe for someone like Hitler or the Sandy Hook shooter, but not us.

That isn’t what the Bible indicates.  It tells us that without Christ, we dwell in a condition of wrath.  We are sliding downhill headed straight for it and we don’t even realize it.  Christ steps in and saves us from that.  He performs the rescue.

The question we must ask ourselves is where do we stand at this point in our lives?  Are we already rescued?  Or are we in need of rescue?

Do you know where you stand right now?  Are you rescued or in need of rescue?

Christmas Lights

Christmas lights are my favorite decorations.  All of the others are fine and needed.  Ornaments are pretty.  You have to have a tree topper of some sort.  But if the tree doesn’t have lights, it just seems bland to me.

One of our Christmas traditions is driving over to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg during the Christmas season.  We stop at the Krispy Kreme in Pigeon Forge to get some doughnuts.  Then we ride around and look at all of the lights.  It’s one of the most enjoyable evenings that I have during the Christmas season.  Why?  Because I love the lights.

The little town of Townsend tha I live in puts up snowflake lights every year.  I get excited when I see the snowflakes have been put up.  On my way home every night, they are lit and help form the path home.  I love the lights.

I don’t think I’ve always felt that way about lights.  I’m not sure when the switch flipped for me.  At some point, lights just simply became my favorite decoration.  I never even wondered why until recently.  Then it dawned on me why.

In everything that we do associated with Christmas, I try to figure out what it can say about Christ.  Here’s what comes to my mind when I see all of the lights.

Obviously it’s dark when the lights shine.  We live in a world of darkness.  Hopefully you agree with me and I don’t really have to explain that one.  Just look around at what’s going on in and you have to admit we live in a dark and depraved world.

Then there’s Jesus.  Luke wrote that shortly after He was born, Simeon said that he was a light of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of His people Israel.

John said that He was the true Light who came into the world and enlightens every man.  He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him.

Jesus Himself proclaimed that He was the Light of the world.  Whoever followed Him would not walk in darkness, but have the Light of life.

That’s what I see when I see the lights.

The light of revelation to the Gentiles.  That’s me!!!

I see the true Light that enlightens every man.  That’s me!!!

I see the Light of the world.  The Light of life for those that follow Him.  That’s me!!!

When you see Christmas lights, I hope you see more than pretty decorations and twinkling lights.  I hope you see the true Light of the world.

What do you see when you see Christmas lights?

God Is Light

Here are some things that I learned recently in my Sunday School class about 1 John 1:5-10:

1.  God is light.  No darkness is found in Him.  This is the message that John has declared to his audience.

2.  We live in either Light or darkness.  This is how John divides our lives.  His opponents would say the division is spiritual and physical.

3.  Followers of Christ walk/live in the Light.

4.  Followers of Christ have fellowship with each other

5.  We are cleansed from all sin.

6.  We have all sinned and need forgiveness.

7.  We are affected by God’s forgiveness and confess our sins.