Good morning,
Today is day 6 of Hanukkah. We will light 6 candles.
Sixth Candle
After we come to know Messiah, we are to be a source of light for the world. King Messiah tells us in Matthew 5:14-16:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
What we learned:
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Candle Five pictures the baby Jesus as the greatest light of all. Simeon testified to it. John, the apostle, writes about it. Then Candle Six makes the application to believers to be lights to the whole world. Live it, teach it, proclaim it, to all who will listen.
Our world is BLINDED by the wrong kind of lights. The holiday displays, commercial and residential, fails to portray the God of all creation, who was virgin born, sent to provide salvation to all, and who would eventually die on a cross for the sins of all mankind. They fail to pay reverence to God’s Son, second person of the trinity, and soon coming Judge.
So we have a choice to make. How will we celebrate Christmas this year? Will we follow the true light or a fake. Is Christmas, for us, still about Jesus and his birth or is it about the bells and baubles of commercialism? Each of us must decide and then act decisively.
The lights of the Hanukkah lamp can teach us a lot.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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