Hope Shines Brighter.

Advent begins with hope. Not optimism, not wishful thinking, but a gritty, unshakable confidence that darkness doesn’t get the last word.

Isaiah promised it long ago: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). John declared it again: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). That light is Jesus. And Jesus is still the hope of the world.

And right now, for so many, the world feels dark. Shadows of division, violence, and despair seem to press in from every side. It’s easy to wonder if light can still break through.

That’s what makes this Advent feel especially weighty. At its heart, Advent is a season of waiting in the dark. God’s people have been here before. In the days of Jesus, they were waiting too, longing for peace under oppression, for justice in the face of violence, and for hope in the midst of despair.

Into that same darkness, Light came. The promise was fulfilled. Hope was born.

For more than two thousand years, Advent has reminded us of this truth: the Light has already dawned, and it still shines. Even now, and perhaps especially now, hope shines brighter when the darkness feels heavy.

At Because Justice Matters, we see light breaking through firsthand. 

One woman we know through EdenMade disappeared for a season, and our staff felt strongly to pray for this woman, fervently and often. When we finally saw her months later, she ran to our staff, tears in her eyes, and told us about the trauma she had endured at the hands of a dangerous man, which left her in the hospital in a coma. We wept with her. 

Yet, through all of it, she said once she was awake and released, it was the prayer cards we had given her that became her lifeline. She carried them with her, and in her darkest hours, she prayed the words of Scripture over her life. “I knew everything was going to be okay,” she told us, “because I prayed these prayers. I knew I wasn’t alone.”

That is the kind of hope that breaks into darkness when the Word of God is spoken. Hope that doesn’t deny the pain, but stands unshaken in the middle of it.

As we enter this Advent season, we may be feeling all sorts of weight, but let’s choose to anchor ourselves again in the truth that Jesus is still the hope of the world. Not our circumstances. Not politics. Not our own striving. Jesus. His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will never overcome it.

Thoughts for this week: Are there situations in your life right now that you need to remind yourself of the truth that Jesus is still the hope of the world? Where have you seen his light break through recently?