LESSON 24

2/8/04

YOU'RE THOUGHTS: What is the main purpose of a Lighthouse?

What are the two paths that the Bible talks about?

Which one have you chosen?

MY THOUGHTS: Imagine, you lose all sense of time and you were being overcome by darkness on a path in an unfamiliar woods and you were able to see good enough to recognize a fork in the path and was challenged with a choice on which path you should take. The only sign that you see that might help you make that decision is that further up on one path you see a small light. I would believe that you would take the path with the small light. How inviting that light would be. It might represent a warm building or a camp fire radiating the heat you need to warm your chilled bones.

Let’s now imagine you were on a small ship and you were in the middle of a great storm where the winds were blowing and the fog was so thick that you can only see two inches away from you. You’re scared, helpless, wondering how were you going to find your way. Then you see a light so bright that it cuts through the fog like a razor sharp knife cutting through a loaf of bread. You are attracted to that light, again because it represents a place to go where it’s comfortable or secure

In our theme scripture, the path of the just, or in other translations, the righteous are compared to the shining light. That light starts out as a slight flicker then it grows with such intensity that it cannot be helped but noticed. The moment that a man or woman is drawn to God by the Holy Spirit and they allow his son Jesus into their hearts that light goes on and starts pushing the darkness away. Through daily devotions and constant prayers the darkness is replaced with the glorious light of Jesus.

Then the brightness of the light makes it’s way out of the person and begins shining in the darkness of the world, such as that light on the path or the light house in that great storm. We as Christians need to remember to let our lights shine. The security and comfort that we have because our eyes are open to the truth needs to be shared with the lost, the depressed, the lonely and so on.

The last part of our theme verse is telling us not only does the light grow in each individual Christian, but the combination of lights in the body of Christ grows in such a way that we have that perfect day. Matthew Henry describes this growing light in this way -“ It is a growing light; it shines more and more, not like the light of a meteor, which soon disappears, or that of a candle, which burns dim and burns down, but like that of the rising sun, which goes forward shining, mounts upward shining.” We can not have a perfect day on earth like we will have for eternity in heaven but we sure can have the brightness of Jesus’ love shining all around in such a way that people cannot be helped but notice..

Every year my family and I attend a week long Christian music concert up in Mt Union PA. called Creation. They always have one night scheduled for a candle light service. I love that night so much. There you are with about 70.000 people standing on a mountain in ether pure darkness except for the lights on the stage or sometimes a full moon and then you witness the progression of little lights from individual candles gradually spreading and overcoming the darkness. I’m amazed at the unity or continuity that this service represents. If we could just bring that down from the mountain into the valley it would be awesome.

Friends, like that old familiar campfire song, this little light of mine, we must let it shine. If each and one of us lets our little light shine, together we will make it a perfect day on earth as it is in Heaven. Remember Jesus is that light. Amen

Scripture ref. Job 22: 28, Matt. 5:16, Isaiah. 58:8-10

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