Every New Year’s Eve we hope the next year will be a reset and that this will finally be a “good year.” Unfortunately life doesn’t work that way. The good and the bad always come at us at the same time. Even though we can’t guarantee a ”good year,” Jesus offers us something better… a new beginning in the middle of our real life.
It’s human nature to be afraid of the dark. It isolates us and hides reality. But in the presence of light, darkness is nothing. Christmas is the story of God shining his light in the darkness of the world to end our isolation and give our lives true purpose.
There is a darkness in the world that we seem powerless to remove. Almost all belief systems offer a solution to this darkness. Christmas, however, is God’s unique and lasting answer to the darkness in the world and the darkness we find in ourselves.
Darkness seems overwhelming until the tiniest light is lit. The darkness around us, and even in us, often feels overwhelming. But Christmas is the story of God’s light breaking through the darkness and bringing us more light than we could have ever imagined.
When the world is falling apart the way we usually respond (complaining, blaming, fighting) usually only creates more problems. Maybe it’s time to try something else. Something that has been available to us all along. Something that isn’t simply “the least we can do,” but actually the most powerful force for good in the world. It also just happens to be the most reliable path to happiness.