FIRST LIGHT, THEN GRACE (June 13, 2025)

Wherever grace is welcomed and received, joy follows, just as daylight follows dawn. And so we can read backwards from so many grayed-out, joyless souls to learn how few have heard and loved and lived the gospel. All fearful, anxious following of Jesus—all dim preoccupation with the things we've done or left undone—reveals that we are still in darkness, wrestling with the shadows Jesus rose to vanquish. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5). So hear the gospel chorus in the songbirds’ pre-dawn trilling, bringing light to weary souls—like yours: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, 
  and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, 
  and thick darkness the peoples; 
but the Lord will arise upon you, 
  and His glory will be seen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1-2). The Light of all the world invites you: be done with anxious, midnight brooding. The day that dawns is meant to be abundant and eternal, the endless morning of the Son. And stay in grace. – Bill Knott