Exposure to Light
“The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light... ”
We are a week away from Christmas day. This simple statement is enough to strike fear into any person that still has plans to complete, gifts to finish, and shopping to do. It can also send a thrill through anyone that loves that last minute pressure.
As we reach this last week, we also mark a major milestone in our annual progression around the sun: the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest day in the Southern Hemisphere. Being in the Northern Hemisphere, advent falls in that time of waiting for the light to return. We seek the light of hope, peace, joy, and love.
John 3:16 is a familiar and oft-quoted passage. However, continuing to read, it transitions to talk about the light that has come to the world. Jesus, when talking to Nicodemus in this passage, correlates lovers of the darkness with evil, which aligns with our instinct to fear the shadows. Light exposes the good and the bad. When there are things we don't want to acknowledge about ourselves, we tend to shy away from exposing those areas of ourselves to light.
Yet once we do expose those areas of darkness and embarrassment, it often isn't as bad as we built it up to be. One of the troubles with darkness is that it is isolating. This magnifies the belief that we are the only one with this problem, it is too big to ever be fixed, and no one could love us because of this struggle. I propose that this is false. When we decide to walk toward the light, we begin to expose ourselves to truth. The more we expose ourselves to truth, the easier it is to see the lies.
As we face down the darkness, look forward to the light. Find the parts of yourself - your beliefs or personality - that you keep hidden and secret, and expose them to the light. Discover what lies you believe, both those you tell yourself and those that are told to you. Expose the lies and seek the truth.
