A Light in Dark Places... (LOTR and Jesus-THE Light of the World)

A Light in Dark Places... (LOTR and Jesus-THE Light of the World)

September 10, 2004
Submitted By salean http://www.theonering.com/articles1-17606/Alightindarkplaces

..A light in the darkness' is a phrase you often hear when people are talking about God or Jesus. People see God and Jesus as the light that has shone to show them the way. There are lots of examples of a similar nature in Lord of the Rings.
When the fellowship is in Lothlorien, Galadriel gives them all a present. Her present to Frodo is a small crystal phial, caught with the light of E????rendil's star. In a way this gift is like the gift of the Holy Spirit that God has given us. In the same way that Frodo uses the light in Shelob's lair, so we use our light in our troubles and trials. ..May it be a light for you in dark places.' Galadriel says to Frodo. Jesus had promised the gift of the holy spirit to the disciples. He said that although He was leaving this world his Spirit would remain in His followers. That's why the Holy Spirit is so precious, just like the phial of Galadriel.
When people think of Jesus they sometimes imagine Him as a normal person who shines with a bright light. It is not hard to imagine it. After meeting Gandalf the White it is not hard to see how some people would remember him as an old man who shines with a bright light. After all, it does say many times that Gandalf did indeed shine with a bright light if he needed to. If you were in Middle Earth what would you remember Gandalf as? The minds of people are picky, they remember some things and forget others. A thousand or so years on Gandalf would probably only be remembered as Gandalf the White, few traces would remain of Gandalf the Grey. It is like this with Jesus, we do not remember the carpenter Jesus, just the Jesus that saved us from our sins and gave us new life.
We need to let Jesus become our light. We need to let Him shine His light and lead is out of the darkness of our lives. We need to follow Him, putting all our faith in Him and we will not fall. We need to be fixed on Jesus.