When the Wright brothers finally got their “flying machine” off the ground in 1903, they sent a telegraph message to their family:
SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING ALL AGAINST TWENTY ONE MILE WIND STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENGINE POWER ALONE AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTY ONE MILES LONGEST 57 SECONDS INFORM PRESS HOME CHRISTMAS. OREVELLE WRIGHT”
The story goes, the family sent the telegram to the editor of the local newspaper. He glanced at it and yawned— passing on the story, “How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas.” He totally missed the big news—man had actually flown!
A lot of people run the risk of missing the big news this time of year. The big news of Christmas has family drama and global political intrigue, surprising guests and a clip of animals inside the house.
But many people will get lost in the attempt to produce sentimental feelings and ultimately worthless gifts and miss the real point of Christmas altogether.
Here’s the headline and it changes everything:
At Christmas, the light of the world stepped down into darkness.
John 1:9-12, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
This is John’s Christmas declaration. We may think of the angel’s annunciation to Mary, and Luke’s account of the shepherds or Matthew’s account of the Star the visit of the Wise Men, but John takes a less narrative and more theological approach: The True Light— the One who conceived of the very idea of light before there was time – the One who is the very Light of the World— the True Light came into a world of darkness, fulfilling the prophecy given to Isaiah more than 700 years earlier, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)
May our eyes and hearts be open and may we see and hear the Good News of Great Joy for all people.
The true light has dawned – but has it dawned on you? Has it dawned on you that Jesus is the True Light? Because, come to find out, the light does not dawn on everyone. That’s what John says here— that many do not receive him, and “ Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
The light is for everyone but not everyone receives Him.
Hmmm, did you hear that? Did you get the connection between believing and receiving? What happens to those who DO receive the gift of Jesus?
To those who received Him, Jesus gave the right to become children of God.
News flash: Not everyone on this earth is a child of God. Only those who receive Jesus are given the right to become children of God. God created everyone but not everyone acknowledges God as Father. Only those who receive Jesus are given the right to become children of God.
Jesus addresses this in John 8:42-44 where he says, “If God were your Father, you would love Me.” So if a person is not living as a child of God, whose child are they? Jesus goes on to say, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Ouch and yikes! Right?
You can have a right relationship with God and become His child by receiving Jesus and believing in His name. Do you? Has it dawned on you that Jesus is the true light and that He has come that you might have the right to become a child of God?
Don’t miss the big news here. The light of the world, the true light, Light itself, stepped down into darkness, I pray God will open your eyes and you will see Jesus for who he really is and receive Him this Christmas.
