One night recently, my friend, Tomm, & I were hanging out at the pavilion behind our church, just enjoying some good Christian fellowship & prayer time. At the back of our church’s property, there is a large white cross situated on a wood-line about 200 yards or so from the pavilion where we were seated. The cross was constructed by one of our church members, who painted it in reflective white paint, & installed solar-charged lights on it that cause it to be illuminated when the sun goes down. So, as it gets darker, the cross gets brighter.
As Tomm & I sat at the pavilion, I suddenly realized how bright the cross was against the trees at the back of the field. I tried to take a picture of it with my phone, but the long distance, compounded by the darkness didn’t make for a very clear shot. But you get an idea of what we saw.
At that point, I made a simple statement: “Boy, the cross looks bright tonight.” But, as soon as I said it, Tomm & I both paused, quietly realizing the implications of those 6 little words.
The thing that made the cross so bright was the depth of the darkness that surrounded it. And how true that is in our world today!
As our world continues to be enveloped in the darkness of sin, the only thing that can dispel that darkness is the message of the cross – that Jesus Christ is the only hope for the world, the only answer for our problem of sin, the only cure for our deadly disease of sin, the only Master over the slavery of sin, the only way out of the trap of sin. This message is a message of Good News. It’s a message of life change. It’s a message of overwhelming love, overwhelming mercy, overwhelming grace, given by a God who is overwhelmingly concerned with His glory being the focus of our lives. Driven by His love for us, God sent His one-&-only, one-of-a-kind Son to come into this dark world & bring the light of the Gospel to us through His own life, death, & resurrection (Ephesians 2:4-5).
So, Christ-follower, don’t lose heart! It’s so easy for us to let the weight of the darkness bring a heaviness & discouragement to our faith. But, remember that the darker our world gets, the brighter the cross shines! And that bright cross ALWAYS points to JESUS, the Light of the world!
Question: How bright is the cross shining in YOUR life?
(Thanks for building & donating the cross, Larry!)
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