CHILDREN OF LIGHT
CHILDREN OF LIGHT
If you have been following me for very long, you know of my love of anything that produces light, especially lighthouses. In this blog, I want to talk about the strength of the lighthouse and the fact that we are to be a beacon of light, children of light in service to God. Ephesians 5:8-14 tells us, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore, He says: ’Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’” Manifest means: “to display or show by one’s actions or appearance, to be clear or obvious to the eye or mind.” (Oxford Languages) These verses show me that we have to put into action our light. We have to live our lives in such a way that when we go into a room, others can see that we are different. They can see, hear and are drawn to us as children of light.
Lighthouses are generally made with brick and stone masonry. They are usually built on rock. They are constructed in such a way that the harshest conditions, which seem to have the ability to blow them down, beat against them and yet they stand strong and firm. They have stood and lasted for generations because of what they are made of and the foundation they are built on. Even the fiercest storms do in fact blow around and against them, yet they continue to shine out of the darkness. They are made to withstand the darkness and boisterous winds. Beaten on, but still standing firm.
Isn’t this how we are to be also? Matthew 7:24-27, when Jesus was talking to His disciples reads: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wiseman who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall for it is was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was its fall.” There are so many verses in the Bible that tell us who is the rock we are to build our lives on. (look under rock in your concordance or google search) One is in Psalm 62:2, “He only is my rock and my salvation, He is my defense, I shall not be greatly moved.” Even when the storms come our way, God is by our side giving us strength!
What are some things we can learn from a study of these verses? One big thing they all tell us is: that our Lord is the ONLY rock we are to build on to withstand the crazy winds of this life on earth. This world tries to build their lives on worldly things: drugs, alcohol, sex, riches. These things do not help us to stand firm when the effects of them, end up sending us into darkness. God is the only way to find the light! Another thing is: we have to do something-put action into building on the strength of our God. How do we do that? How do we know how to build? How do we get to know Jesus-God-Holy Spirit? How do we get the strength to do the task of building our lives, so we can be children of light? The easy answer is, we have to first know how to build our lives. The builders of lighthouses drew up plans and knew what to use to make them strong and able to withstand the blowing wind, the flood of water overtaking them and the wind that would threaten to blow them down. So, what is our plan to follow? Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” The Bible, the Word of God is our plan! It shows us how to get strength so we can withstand the evils, the pain, the depression all the things of this dark world that can try to blow our lights out. We have to sit down and focus on the words God has given us to follow. In order for us to reflect the light of Jesus, we need to absorb light by studying the Word of God. God’s way is how we become children of light-the worlds’ way leads us to be children of darkness.
“Sometimes we need only a single star to follow one point of light to unite and guide us showing us in the darkness something greater than ourselves” -anonymous-
When our light is showing, we are children of light. It can shine in the grocery store-at work-at home with your husband or children-when we are stuck in traffic-when you have been on hold for a long time on the phone (that is a hard one for me)-when someone has told a lie about us-when we are backed into a corner and don’t know how to get out without going into dark thoughts or actions. There are so many scenarios you could add to the everyday experiences we all have. We have all felt the pressures of this world that move our emotions to fall back into darkness. But if we keep our light shining, at least lit, we can keep that light beaming from us to help others. What if we are the only point of light that a person sees in their life? What if we have missed an opportunity to shine for the Lord to let others know there is hope, strength, power and promises? What if we were the light that a person has been looking for?
There have been many times that the devil tried hard to extinguish my focus of God’s light. When the world comes so hard on us and causes our light to dim, we have to stir up those embers and cause the light to come into our focus again. When we shine with light out of darkness, we are pushing the devil away who is darkness. Faith is seeing light in your heart when all your eyes see is darkness. Never doubt in the dark, what God told us in the light.
Lighthouses symbolize: danger-when not looking at the light and following its warning, strength-the light is on the rock cliffs on a good foundation, safety-showing us the way and the way not to go, hope-first sign of land and safety pulling ships to it showing land ahead, no death-if we follow the message of the lighthouse to stay away from the darkness and focus on the light, end of journey-the end and promises are welcoming us into its light eternally.
We, as children of light, are like the lighthouses. We need to be a symbol of hope and security, a guide for safe passage and shine showing the protection given only through our Lord and Savior. The lighthouses that no longer are in use, no longer shine, only show loneliness without their light. They are strong but yet they need their powerful light to fulfill their purpose and shine showing the ships the safe, light filled way. The lighthouse is built to withstand the violent storms. In the same way, we, as children of light, are built on a strong foundation to stand strong and firm when the violent winds of this life threaten to blow our light out!
Isaiah 60:19-20 “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light and the days of your mourning shall be ended.”
Did you realize that a lighthouses’ light and our light, shines brightest when it and we are in the darkest of storms? Can others see that we are children of light or have we let our light go out and we are children of the dark? If the last option is who you are, take out the Word of God and come back into God’s marvelous light! The darkness of this world is searching for the light! Searching for us, the children of light!
Till next time!
Keela