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I have not tried to stay up to greet the New Year for a long time now. I was in bed on New Year’s Eve before 10 p.m.  But I don’t sleep well. Haven’t for many years. So I was awake and able to welcome 2025 when it was not yet three hours old. I stayed in bed a bit, but finally went into the family room so I would not wake my dear wife. I was doing some reading and looked out the window. I could not see very far because of the darkness.

One of the gifts Cheryl gave me for Christmas was a pair of “night vision” goggles. I tried them out in the darkness. They do a good job of allowing you to see things in the night you would otherwise not be able to see. I’m sure I will get a lot of use out of them, especially in eradicating the wild pigs on our property. As nice as they are, they are nothing like the light God provided for us. When the sun came up, I could see everything, not just what the goggles were pointed at.

The same is true when we think of the darkness of sin in which we live. There is nothing like the light God gave us to overcome that darkness. And that darkness is very real. People are drawn to it. So much of what passes for entertainment these days is filled with the foulest of language and people living lifestyles that are clearly outside of God’s Will. Jesus’ description of our world is profoundly accurate:

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Christians need to be aware of the darkness, because you will be drawn to it as it creeps up around you on all sides. If you are not careful, you will find yourself surrounded by it before you know it. Have you ever been in a mine or a cave? Do you remember the episode in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” when Tom and Becky were lost and trapped deep inside a cave, and the desperation they were feeling as they watched their candle flicker and then go out?  I had trouble picturing that kind of total darkness until I took my family to Meremac Caverns in Missouri. We walked down into the cool cave on a hot summer day, and at one point in the tour, deep inside the earth, our guide turned off the lights. He had warned us he was going to do so. As we stood there for awhile, it became apparent that our eyes were not going to adjust. There was no light. None. The winding path we had come down raced through my mind. Would I be able to find my way out? What about all those side tunnels? One wrong turn and I would be hopelessly lost. If I was going to get out of there, I would need a light.

God gave this world the Light that it needed so desperately by keeping the promise He had made ever since man first sinned. He sent us the Light wrapped in a baby boy who grew up to die on a cross and then rise again in triumph over sin and the grave. Along the way, He tried to tell people who He was and what He had come to do. But His own people were not very receptive. Jesus proclaimed what must have been confounding words to those who had gathered to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles:

 John 8:12  “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Saul was on the road to Damascus, going there to put a stop to those who were following Jesus in that place (See Acts 9). But then Jesus showed up on the road, and everything changed. Saul was transformed from a persecutor to an ambassador for Jesus. He spent the rest of his life doing everything he could to share the Gospel, the Good News of who Jesus is and what He has done for all people. He described his mission and ministry in the first chapter of his letter to the church in Rome.

Romans 1:1-4, 9-10, 15-17   Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures  regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. … God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. … I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Paul (formerly known by his Hebrew name “Saul) states emphatically that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God that saves people, not what we do.

e Gospel is not meant to make you feel good about the poor, miserable sinner that you are. The Gospel is to let you know of the forgiveness Jesus earned for you. When Paul quoted that passage “The righteous will live by faith,” He was saying that in spite of your sin, believing in Jesus allows you to be forgiven. It is also a call to live a new life as a follower of Jesus. Confident of the salvation you have for His sake, you will strive to live a life pleasing to God.