More Power to You

Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric light bulb in 1879 safely illuminated the world.[i] Up to this time, darkness had been dispelled with the use of unreliable gas lighting.[ii]

 Jesus birth in Bethlehem was a game changer for everyone everywhere in the world (past, present, and future).[iii]That tiny Baby shined into our world for our need of a Savior. "In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."[iv]

“It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did … For millions of people who have lived since the birth of Jesus, made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it.

 

It is [a truth that for centuries there has been] untold numbers of men and women (who in untold numbers of ways have been so grasped by the Child who was born). [They are] so caught up in the message He taught and the life He lived that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with Him.”[v]

 We should be just like the One we follow, who gives us our reason to live. “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining; they just shine.”[vi]

 Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”[vii]

 “There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.”[viii] Imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks.[ix] Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light."[x]

 “So God throws open the door of this world—and enters as a baby as the most vulnerable imaginable. Because He wants unimaginable intimacy with you; what religion ever had a god that wanted such intimacy with us that He came with such vulnerability to us?

What God ever came so tender we could touch Him; so fragile that we could break Him; so vulnerable that His bare, beating heart could be hurt? Only the One who loves you to death.[xi] We are indeed the light of the world--but only if our switch is turned on."[xii]

Thomas Edison

 

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[i] The phrase, “More power to you” means best wishes to someone.

 

[ii] Gas lighting is a production of artificial light from the combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. (Wikipedia)

 

[iii] This post was inspired by the sermon, Christmas Revealed: The Sign Revealed (installment four, final) Pastor Dave Jansen Saturday, December 24, 2016

 

[iv] Quote by Francis Bacon

 

[v] Quote by Frederick Buechner 

 

[vi] Quote by D.L. Moody

 

[vii] John 8:12 (MSG)

 

[viii] Job 24:13 (NET Bible)

 

[ix] Quote by Philip Yancey

 

[x] Quote by Helen Keller

 

[xi] Quote by Ann Voskamp

 

[xii] Quote by John Hagee