The Upper Room 8 December 2021 Daily Devotional | Wednesday Message
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No Longer Afraid
Olaiya Muyiwa Benralph (Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria)
TODAY’S READING
John 1:1-9
KEY VERSE: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned. – Matthew 4:16 (NRSV)
The Upper Room 8 December 2021 Daily Devotional Message
When I was young, I had a great fear of darkness.
One night the electricity went off. Darkness quickly enveloped my room, and I felt something bad was closing in on me. I screamed until my mother rushed to my rescue. As soon as the light from her lantern shone in the room, the darkness disappeared!
Thinking about that night years later reminds me of how the whole world lay in darkness until God spoke the sun into being. I think also of how the coming of Jesus Christ as the true Light dispelled the darkness in the world and illuminated the path for humankind. (See John 1:9.) Finally, thinking of that night reminds me of a cold manger in Bethlehem where the Holy Child was born. That night marks the point at which God shined a divine light into the world and dispelled the power of evil.
Remembering my experience with darkness as a child helps me understand Christmas better. Christmas is the time when God’s light through Christ breaks the hold of sin in the world. I no longer celebrate Christmas blindly but with a deep understanding of what God did by sending Jesus as the Light of the world.
TODAY’S PRAYER
God of light, fill our hearts with the joy of Christmas so that the light of the gospel can shine anew in the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Christmas is the celebration of Jesus, the Light of the World.
PRAYER FOCUS
Those who live with a phobia