It’s All About Light 4th January Read: 1 John 1:5-9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 (NIV)

Night and darkness can be terrifying. How many of you either had a nightlight when you were young or put one on for your children/grandchildren? There is something about not being able to see that makes our imaginations go wild. I remember as a child lying in bed paralysed by fear from a noise and picturing all sorts of monsters in my room. Disney Pixar made a movie about this, and it was released in 2001 – ‘Monsters, Inc’. ‘Monsters Incorporated is the largest scare factory in the monster world, and James P. Sullivan is one of its top scarers.

Sullivan is a huge, intimidating monster with blue fur, large purple spots and horns. His scare assistant, best friend and roommate is Mike Wazowski, a green, opinionated, feisty little one-eyed monster. Visiting from the human world is Boo, a tiny girl who goes where no human has ever gone before. The city’s power supply is provided by Monsters, Inc., a utility company that employs monsters to scare children and extract energy from their screams. This is considered a dangerous task since the monsters believe children to be toxic and touching them would be fatal.’ [review by rottentomatoes.com] At the end of the movie the monsters work out that instead of scaring kids, the monsters now make them laugh which gives off much more energy than screams, saving the city, Monstropolis.

What they thought brought power (fear) is replaced by something even greater (joy). Being in the light of Jesus brings joy. In the beginning, God gave us both the light of day and the darkness of night – they both have a purpose for living.

But even though darkness can be scary, there is no reason to fear it, for the Creator of the world, God, is also there. “…even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139:12 NIV) Walk in the light of God and live in His joy. Joy in the Lord brings power in a darkened world. It’s all about living in the light of Jesus!

Prayer: Lord God, let me live in your light-filled world surrounded by your love and grace. Take away my fear of the dark places, for you are also there with me guiding me through to your light. Amen

Transformational 3rd January Read: 1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

I recently went to a four-year-old’s birthday party. There was food galore, balloons, piñata, games, lots of children and parents and of course presents. The presents varied from slime, Lego, toys and games, but the favourite of this little four-year-old was a plane that transformed into a robot. He could run around with the plane, but then he could make it come alive and walk as a robot. You may have seen these toys, they are known as ‘Transformers’ and are some sort of normal car, truck, plane that turns into a robot with other powers. Children seem to like the idea of something changing into something else.

I like the idea of being transformed by God. In 1 Peter, above we are given a small glimpse as to how God has transformed us. In our baptisms, God washed us clean from all our wrongdoing and even though we are human and keep doing wrong, we can keep coming back to God telling Him we have blown it again and we will be forgiven. It is sort of like being a normal type of car that we keep driving around in, but when God enters our lives through the Holy Spirit we are transformed into His “…chosen people”. As it is written in 1 Peter 2:10, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Before we were baptised, we were living in the darkness of sin, but with God entering our lives, we get to be brought into His wonderful light. It’s an amazing transformation that only God can perform. We get to now live in this light and love of a loving Heavenly Father.

When a person is brought to know Jesus and God’s love, we can picture God like a four-year-old running around rejoicing with the angels that another has been brought into His light and Kingdom. It is important to thank God and sing His praises for we now belong to God. Knowing God is transformational!

Prayer: Almighty God, thank you for bringing me out of darkness and into your family. Help me to be open in sharing how you can transform lives through the Holy Spirit. Amen

Father of Lights 2nd January Read: James 1:17-18 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 (NIV)

I remember when younger watching ‘I Dream of Jeannie’. I was captivated by this 2,000-year-old genie, Jeannie, who lived in a bottle and could grant wishes to whoever looked after the bottle. She was discovered by an astronaut, captain Tony Nelson, whom she ended up falling in love with. Overall, there were 139 episodes of this from 1965-1970 and re-runs have been played repeatedly. If you have never seen this show – it is a lot of fun! Sometimes people treat God like a genie; you pray to Him and He grants wishes. Unlike a genie, God is the Creator of the world, He is the ‘Father of Lights’ creating the sun, moon and stars, but is also the source of everything that is good, true and pure.

Unlike the stars, sun and moon which shift into darkness or change, God is eternally consistent in His faithfulness and in wanting the best for all His children. So therefore, “every good and perfect gift is from above.” In this gift giving, was the greatest gift humanity could ever receive; the gift of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered pain and death, but whom God raised on the third day to overcome all darkness.

We now live in the glorious light of the resurrection receiving eternal life with our Heavenly Father. God is generous and good and only good things can come from God. It is our sin and our humanness that causes things to go wrong. We then rely on God’s grace to set all things right again. “How great are God’s riches! How deep are his wisdom and knowledge! Who can explain his decisions?

Who can understand his ways? As the scripture says, “Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give him advice? Who has ever given him anything, so that he had to pay it back?” For all things were created by him, and all things exist through him and for him. To God be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:33-36 GNT) Our Lord never changes with His love for us!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are the Lord of all creation and the ‘Father of Lights’ producing everything good and right for the world. Thank you for your gracious gifts and your goodness to me. Amen