I'm in Atlanta tonight doing some Christmas shopping and generally enjoying myself. The trip is primarily fueled by a desire to go the the Ikea store... Love that store...

So anyway, as we were driving to the hotel I thought how pretty this city is. The lights are up for Christmas and everything sparkles and glitters. Our hotel has a great view of downtown Atlanta and it shines. This city is beautiful at night. During the day it's a different thing. The pretty lights are hidden in the branches of sleeping leafless trees, the streets don't look as clean and you can see how dingy all the windows really are.

Sin is like a city at night. It is pretty, shiny and sparkly. It is attractive and looks like something you'd like to be involved in. However, when it's brought into the light it's revealed for what it is: dirty, dingy and nasty. The light reveals the true nature of sin and it's not a attractive as it is in the dark.

This is why we must, absolutely must, bring sin into the light. Because it looks good in the dark. It's only in the light that we can see sin as it is and do the work of getting rid of it. When we're no longer distracted by the sparkly and shiny parts we can do the work, with God's help, of disassembling the hold sin has taken on our lives.

Next up: Sleep, breakfast and then Ikea!