And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Genesis 1:3-5

Thursday afternoon Rebekah and I drove over to Wake Forest. We took care of some local business, we went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, and we spent our first night away from Tarboro since moving early last week.

We plan to get some more work done around the house this morning, then return to our Tarboro home in time for dinner.

It’s a curious sensation, feeling like a visitor in your own home. Our house is essentially the same – it’s hard to see any physical evidence that we are living elsewhere. But it is as if the beating heart of what makes this place “Maul-Hall” is now located sixty-five miles to the east.

I am having a hard time describing this exactly, because what we’re talking about is not reducible to words or logic. But I’m giving it a try because this same idea is often manifest in us as people.

Like a house, we can be empty too:

In the same way a family gives life to a house, God intends to animate us, to inspire us, to fill us up with spiritual life (the word “inspire” literally means give life and breath, the breath of life). This breath of spiritual life is not something optional, take it or leave it, after-market, or add-on; spiritual life is part of the original design specifications for fully functioning humans.

In other words, we cannot choose to be God’s children or not, because we already are, regardless. The choice is, instead, “Do we allow God to love us? Do we live into the fact of our spiritual nature? Or do we deny or reject it?”

Then there is another position, one that is occupied by many people: “We believe that we are God’s children, but fail to invite the inspiration of God’s Spirit to infiltrate every aspect of who we are, to fill us and to animate us with unbounded life.”

This is our Wake Forest home right now! It belongs to us but it is not filled up with our life.

Are we filled up with the life of Jesus?

If we acknowledge we have room to grow in terms of being full to overflowing with God, then this is the right time of the year to take some positive steps in that direction,

Advent is the season of expectation for Christmas. But there are steps we can take to be ready for the amazing gift of the newborn king.

Why don’t you join me as I look at the following four key words between now and Christmas Eve: Light. Grace. Mercy. Reconciliation.

At the very beginning, before the beginning, God is. God said “Let there be light.” Also, “In the beginning was the Word – Jesus – and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2).

The Word is Jesus. Jesus is also the light. Being ready for Christmas is simply about letting ourselves be saturated by the light. Jesus is the very breath of God.

As the carol says, “Light and life to all he brings; risen with healing in his wings…”

In love, and because of love – DEREK