31 December 2016 - in your light

[ Today's Readings ]

There is darkness in the world. Many antichrists have appeared. But for us who are in Christ this need not cause fear. In Christ we find the light which the darkness cannot overcome. In him we find truth that the antichrists are powerless to take from our hearts.

What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

We are made God's children in baptism. He anoints us with his Spirit and makes us his own. If we realize who our Father is and how great and full of love he is fear becomes impossible.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God

We see that circumstances, even dark ones, are still allowed to run their course but that now all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose (see Romans 8:28). Yet we often forget how much we have been given in being made children of God. We acknowledge the truth with our lips but begin to live in fear as though we didn't have a Father in heaven looking after us.

But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge. 
I write to you not because you do not know the truth 
but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.

This anointing comes first in baptism. We do in fact have it. And we, yes, you and I, have all knowledge, or at least all knowledge that matters in the grand scheme of things. And the core of this knowledge is who God is and who we are to him. That is why it is this anointing, the Holy Spirit, who makes us cry out to God as Father. Sometimes we forget who we are and need reminders. But the truth is always there, at the core of our beings, waiting for us to return. The Father always welcomes us back into his embrace.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the LORD.