The Light of Christ

Some years ago, my daughter Hayley and I attended the birthday party of a friend held in a banquet hall some miles from home. Late in the evening when the party was over, the guests emerged from the hall to discover significant snow had fallen. The air was thick and appeared as a dense fog around us. As I secured four year old Hayley into her car-seat I worried about the long trip home. Deep ditches disguised by previously plowed snow, lined the back roads we would be traveling. The additional snowfall and low visibility would make the drive an even greater challenge.
Slowly, we inched our way along the road, toward home. Unfortunately, none of the other guests were from (my city) and turned the opposite direction from the banquet hall, leaving me to travel the road alone. Even as we slowly inched along, there were several times the car went into an uncontrollable slide but each time I was able to regain control and we continued on. Whether it was the act of sliding along the road, the lack of visibility, or the tension in my voice, Hayley became frightened and started to cry. To comfort her, I sang Primary songs and encouraged her to sing along. When she finally stopped her crying I asked her to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help us get safely home. I don’t remember her words now, but I remember the comfort they brought to me and I felt we were in the Lord’s hands. It wasn’t long after her prayer that I noticed the faint headlights of another car in front of us. “The headlights cut narrow channels in the dense” snowy fog “pushing away the darkness”, as the light proved “stronger than the dark” . We were able to follow the headlights nearly all the way home and arrived safely.
During His earthly ministry the Savior proclaimed, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Later the Savior explained to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, “I am the light which shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not”(D&C 6:21).
LDS author, Sherri Dew, stated “There are many kinds of darkness that can come into our lives. Loneliness, discouragement, and disappointment can cause us to feel a kind of darkness. Betrayal and pain can do likewise. When we make foolish mistakes or succumb to sin, we can expect to feel varying degrees of darkness, depending on our motive and intent as well as the light of knowledge we have enjoyed previously. But there is one source of Light that pushes away all darkness, as the Lord taught the Prophet Joseph through revelation: ‘That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.. And I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you’ (D&C 50:24-25).”
The Light of Christ is greater than anything you have endured in the past which may weigh you down. His Light is greater than anything you are currently enduring, and His Light is greater than anything you may face in the future.
A young man watching the construction of a lighthouse said to his companion, “What difference will it make? The light will shine, the horn will blow, and yet the fog will still come”.
He is right, the fog will still come. The Lord in His wisdom does not shield anyone from trials, from grief and sadness. The purpose of His Light is to guide us safely through. The Lord has pledged – that if we come unto Him, have faith in Him, and seek after Him, He will push the darkness of mortality away from us with His power.
“If your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things” (D&C 88:67).
Spiritual light is generated from praying daily, studying the scriptures, from fasting, and serving, from living the gospel and obeying the commandments. D&C 115:5 says: "Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations." The Lord said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”(Matt 5: 15-16)
We never know when the Light of Christ within us will serve as a guiding light to others. Regarding those who have been lost, the Savior said we “know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.” (3 Nephi:18:32)
Isaiah, a great prophet of the Old Testament, said, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, … and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isaiah 2:2)
President John Taylor referred to these nations saying, “They will come, saying, we do not know anything of the principles of your religion, but we perceive that you are an honest community; you administer justice and righteousness.”
With recent events, including Mitt Romney running for the office of president, and the defeat in California of proposition 8, we have seen a partial fulfillment of many prophecies. The nations of the earth and many of their leaders have come. They have witnessed church members as a whole, quickly and efficiently gathering resources, providing aid to those suffering the effects of various disasters. They have witnessed church members, individually, volunteering service in various communities. "They have seen the light in our eyes and felt the clasp of our hands."
“The mountain of the house of the Lord,” with its brightly lit spires, has been witnessed by nearly 4 billion people around the world. The nations have heard the glorious music performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to be brought “forth out of obscurity and out of darkness.”
When Robert D. Hales spoke of the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City he said, “Throughout the Olympics there [were] many expressions of light, such as the Olympic flame; the child of light, and the theme, Light the Fire Within”. He went on to say that perhaps the most memorable light was found in the eyes of the competitors themselves. “But what was most moving was not the competition or the spectacle. It was the deeper truth these things symbolized – the source of Light within each of us.”
This Light which “inviteth and enticeth to do good continually” is “given to every man, that he may know good from evil.”
Only by being engaged in living the gospel of Jesus Christ, living it with all our heart, might, mind and strength can we generate enough spiritual light to push back the darkness. This world of darkness is never far away, in fact, it is always just around the corner waiting for an opportunity to come in. “If thou doest NOT well,” the Lord said, “sin lieth at the door” (Gen 4:7 emphasis added).
It is as predictable as any physical law: if we let the Light of Christ flicker or fade by failing to keep the commandments or by not partaking of the sacrament or praying or studying the scriptures, the darkness of the adversary will surely come in. “That wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience.” (D&C 93:39)
In Job 12:25 we read of individuals who “grope in the dark without light” and “stagger like a drunken man.”
There is a way out of the “mists of darkness” and onto the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. The Lord told Isaiah, “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them.” (Isaiah 42:16)
We made a covenant at baptism and we renew it every week when we partake of the sacrament - to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, to always remember Him, and to keep His commandments. This covenant includes the promise that we will always have His Spirit, that we will always have that Light to be with us. The emblems of the Savior’s Atonement remind us that we need not stumble in darkness. We can have His Light with us always.
The Savior said, “I am come a light into the world.” (John 12:46). “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
The Lord is our Light and He is literally our salvation. (Psalms 27:1) Like the sacred fire that encircled the children in 3 Nephi, (17:24) His Light will form a protective shield between you and the darkness of the adversary as you live worthy of it.
The apostle Paul declared, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” (Rom 13:12)
Jesus “is the light and the life of the world; the light that is endless, that can never be darkened.” (Mosiah 16:9)
In closing I’d like to quote Robert D. Hales. He said of Christ,
“He is the Light of Bethlehem, born of Mary, His mortal mother, and Almighty God, His Father.
He is the Light who was baptized by immersion, by John the Baptist, upon whom the Holy Ghost was manifest in the Spirit like a dove descending.
He is the Light in whom His Father was well pleased.
He is the Light at the head of the ancient Church, organized with Twelve Apostles, prophets, and seventies.
He is the Light of the Atonement fulfilled in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Golgotha, who took upon Himself the sins of the world, that all mankind may obtain eternal salvation.
He is the Light of the empty tomb, the resurrected Lord with a glorified body of flesh and bone, who broke the bands of death and gained an everlasting victory over the grave.
He is the Light that ascended into Heaven before the eyes of His disciples, with a promise that in like manner He would come again.
He is the Light that appeared with His Father and restored, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the same Church He established during His ministry on earth.
He is the Light that leads and guides this Church today.”
"May we therefore recommit ourselves to radiate this Light of Christ. May we yoke ourselves to Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
(Much of this entry included quotes from Robert D. Hales or from Sherri Dew)