Emmanuel Day 2
Emmanuel, The Light of the World
“But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.”
1 John 1:7
There is something about the brightest of lights that can tend to ignite a bit of fear within us, isn’t there? I remember when my then-younger kids were getting braces. The orthodontist put a contraption in their mouths to hold their lips back, exposing their crooked teeth, and then proceeded to put on his camera a ring of the brightest lights I have ever seen. As the orthodontist lined up my kids against the wall for their “before” shot, he looked over at me and said, “Do you want to get braces too?” My immediate thought was, “Not on your life buddy!” My teeth aren’t the straightest I’ve ever seen but I wasn’t about to let anyone expose my crooked, coffee-stained teeth with that much light!
I don’t know that any of us are huge fans of bright lights and closer-than-close proximity. The pressure of our flaws being fully exposed to anyone can feel overwhelming, and it seems as though the Christmas season can sometimes kick those fears into high gear. It’s astounding to me how much pressure we put on ourselves to look, act, and be thought of as perfect in a season that’s intended to remind us that we are the imperfect humans who required a perfect God to come and rescue us.
Maybe this fear of exposure is also why our culture tends to favor social media interaction over everyday hangouts. I for one have never posted a picture of myself un-showered, un-make-uped, in a messy house, or in the middle of a messy conversation. My social media accounts make the “reel-me” look pretty good, which I guess is the point of it all right? Who doesn’t love a filter that brushes away the wrinkles and blemishes… Who cares what the rest of my house looks like as long as the little corner in my shot looks good… Does it really matter what was happening before or after the shot as long as we got the picture we needed in order to look like we’re living in the highest of highs?
Oh friends, life lived in a constant attempt to control every perspective is a life that’s only lived in the shadows, and we were never designed to find fellowship or joy there. While we can never ensure full acceptance from those around us, it’s essential for us to remember that full acceptance from people isn’t our greatest need. All the precious friends and family in our lives are too broken themselves to be able to give us the approval we so desperately seek. Unfortunately, this Christmas season, I can almost guarantee that we will, at some point, feel overlooked, under-appreciated, and taken advantage of in some way. I would assume we’ll be made to feel guilty or inadequate over something, and most likely we won’t receive all the gifts we hope to get or be able to find all the presents we hope to buy. We humans are too focused on our own desires to be able to fully fulfill the desires of anyone else.
The good news of this season (and every day of life) is that we were created with a desire to be fully accepted, and that’s the whole reason our Emmanuel came to this earth. Full and true acceptance is found in God alone, and God is with us to give us all we truly desire. We will never find full acceptance in any place but in the presence of Emmanuel, God with us. He has stepped into the shadows of darkness to save us and to carry us into His marvelous light.
According to Ephesians 1:5-6 we have been adopted by Jesus Himself…
“according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
My prayer is that we would become a little more intentionally aware of how perfectly loved, adored, wanted, and seen we are by God. We will never find true fellowship or joy without first coming into the exposing light of His Presence. Just like the brightest of make-up mirrors expose our flaws with the purpose of allowing us to fix them, so the glory of God is meant to expose so that HE can fix all that is flawed within us. Emmanuel is not simply “with us” when we look good, or “with us” in the dim light, or “with us” when no one else is available. He desires to be with us regardless of what we look like, how we have acted, who we are, or who we aren’t.
Jesus isn’t just the highlight reel washer of our lives. He is with us 24/7 as a soul scrubber, a mind-shaper, a word-watcher, a hurt-healer, a peace-bringer, a joy-filler, and so many more attributes and benefits than I could ever think of words for. We can run into the perfect and pure light of Jesus with every flaw, scar, hurt, mistake, mess-up, and failure. The light of God’s glory sorts us out, settles our hearts, and sets us back up on our feet to run this race in His grace once more. He is Emmanuel ALWAYS with us. ALWAYS for us. ALWAYS in love with us.
Let’s come to our Emmanuel with the heart and humility of the psalmist who said…
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)
Today in the middle of all the Holiday Chaos, take a deep breath, and step into the bright light of the glory of God. You have nothing to hide from Him; nothing to hope He doesn’t see, and nothing to pray He doesn’t find out. Emmanuel, God with us means that you are fully exposed, fully known, and still fully loved. There is nothing to keep from Him; no lies that need to be spun, no stories that need to be imagined, no flaws that need to be covered up by anything else but His blood. There is no boasting that needs to be made in order for Him to like you, and no softer light for Him to see you in before He thinks you’re beautiful. This Christmas season, as everyone else is running around in an impossible flurry of the desired perception of perfection, I pray we would instead take time to intentionally remind ourselves and others that we have been perfectly made, perfectly loved, and perfectly forgiven by Emmanuel who came to be with us.