Fruit Cake All Year Round
Each year, the Christmas season provides signs that tell us something special is taking place: the decorations and lights, the treats and baked goods, festive music, parties and gatherings, pine trees proudly displayed inside our houses, and of course, a terrific figgy pudding or fruit cake to confirm that things are, in fact, not normal! There are certain things that happen in this season that don’t take place during the rest of the year.
For us as believers, though, our faith is not a seasonal thing. We don’t just seek Christ during the month of December. And even though the outward adornments will be taken down and put away sometime around New Year’s, the God who has redeemed us also calls us to be a year-round visible sign and testimony of His grace to our world.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden… let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14, 16)
How do we “let our light shine” in this world? Simply stated, we do this by representing Jesus well within the unique places we find ourselves. How does this practically play out? We must start by drawing near to Him for the sake of beholding Him… paying careful attention to His life: observing, examining, and contemplating it, which will in turn lead us to a deeper understanding and appreciation of who He truly is.
From there, we can now determine what it would actually look like for us to reflect His character to others because we are basing our lives on Jesus Christ and how he lived his life. This will be seen in various ways: through our words, attitudes, and actions clothed in His love, humility, and righteousness. Not only will this reflect the light of Christ, but it will refract it as well since the light of his life in us is being evidenced and seen through us like the sun shining through a prism. What an awesome and humbling thought: Immanuel, God with us, and also in us through the wonderful gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit.
So, like those Magi of old, may we go to great lengths to seek Christ, that we might behold Him and worship Him. And, like the fruit cake that tells us something is not quite normal, may our lives stand out as different and set apart as we reflect Christ to our world!