I have always enjoyed the Fall of the year; maybe it is because I was born in that season. The funny thing is being born and raised in Miami, Florida, I never knew the seasons, it was either hot, hot, and rainy, or not as hot. The question of the season was, for Christmas, do I get to wear a sweater or shorts? I was in college in Mississippi the first time I held a snowball. It was the coolest thing—no pun intended.
As I grew older living in areas that experienced some season changes, I enjoyed the aromas that filled the air during the Fall and Christmas season. Everyone seemed a little happier, offering a heartwarming “Merry Christmas,” as you passed by. It was a refreshing time.
I do not know if it is that I am getting older, or the challenges of life have gotten more challenging, or if it is just the year 2020, but it seems different this year. There seems to be a heaviness in the air as uncertainty abounds.
This is what separates the Christ-follower from the religious Christian. The “draw me close,” heart cry of the Christ-follower keeps him or her more attuned to the heartbeat of the triune God. Without question, darkness has grown over the land. It reminds me of the Hobbit movie where the large spiders roamed the forest making it thick with a dreadful sickness. Even the dwarfs were infected by it. It was darkness you could feel, a sickness that crept up on you.
One day while telling stories, Jesus asked if he would even find faith on the earth when he returns. This is a powerful question. The Bible makes it very clear that darkness (gross darkness in the language of the King James Bible) covers the earth before his return. In another place, Jesus said darkness would even challenge the faith of his chosen ones—kind of like the dwarfs being infected by the darkness.
I bring this up because a close personal relationship with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is about being close enough to know his voice in the midst of the darkness. This closeness enables you—like Bilbo in the movie—to climb to the top of the trees to feel the warmth of the sun, and the freshness of the evening breeze.
Such a relationship enables you to direct those lost in the darkness to the light. It enables you—again like Bilbo—to use the sword of the Spirit to fight the spiders of darkness, defeating them in order to free your friends. What a powerful picture that paints.
2020 has certainly been a different year on many—perhaps all—fronts. The victory for the Christ-follower is the ability to look up and see the “son” and feel the wind of the Holy Spirit keeping him or her on track, and free of the effects of the darkness.