Darkness, Then Light

Introducing Christianity Today’s 2025 Advent devotional.

God is still at work amidst darkness.

How can Christians possibly pause for Advent in a world so dark?

Christmas feels decidedly unmerry when our emotions don’t align with truth.

Isaiah speaks to the weary awaiting light in the darkness.

Sometimes God sends prophets. God sent me a dog.

We can’t always see the light when we are in the dark. But the light can always see us.

A story of cancer, calves, Christmas, and the coming of Christ.

The validity of Christianity is not based on our experiences; it’s based on him and his Word.

Left to our own ruminations, it is hard to see Jesus’ light.

Our waiting is never in vain.

A lesson from plants on our need to bend toward the light.

Without acknowledging our grief, we won’t experience the deep comfort of releasing our sorrows to the suffering Savior

I was a memory-verse A-lister, Bible trivia ace pastor’s kid. A crisis of faith brought me to read Scripture anew.

Advent reminds us that light is never overcome by darkness.

A word of comfort for weary saints.

A prayer, a prophet, and a poem for those in the dark.

God used a national tragedy to wake me from personal darkness.

Joni Eareckson Tada’s Advent reflection on this dark-become-light season.

The hope of my adopted son’s birth began long before last August.

Creation brings forth light in which darkness will not have the final word.

We are known and seen by the God who knows our deepest need.

God is our unwavering guide through incomprehensible darkness.

Jesus knows betrayal. But he remains the light.

Our Father knows how to give good gifts to his children.

Christmas reminds us that God took matters into and onto his own hands.