Lighthouse part 1
I like to preach, and Rant, about light. I think, in a very real way, the first thing God ever said is the only thing He ever said. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Now follow me on this one: 1 John 1:5 declares that, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Right? God IS light. Where there is light, there is God. So when God said, "Let there be light," what He was really doing was injecting HIMSELF into the darkness that was US when we were void and without form. He was filling that God-shaped, love-shaped void with the only thing that CAN fill it. God. Love. Himself. John 3:16 says it like this, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He said, "Let there be light." He gave us His only begotten Son. Now watch this, because this is what I really want to focus on for the next few days: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). And, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). See what I'm getting at? Jesus described Himself as the light of the world. AND He described you and me as the light of the world. Its that same light that IS God. That's who Jesus is--God in the flesh, love in a body. That's who WE are--God in OUR flesh, love in OUR body. So when we quote verses like Psalm 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path," we usually direct these kinds of things toward the Bible. (And, obviously, I'm a Bible man. I may read it a little differently than you do, but I'm CERTAINLY not AGAINST it.) When, really, the lamp, and the light, and the word are all the same thing. Jesus. Love. And its not something external. Its something internal. Its you. The true you. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart that is revealed when the light shines. Remember that old song? This little light of mine... I'm gonna let it shine... That's what God did when He said LET there be light. There was light. He let what was inside come out. He didn't try to force it out. He LET it out. By knowing and believing it was in there. We receive BY releasing. Love is giving. So the best way to "get" it (experience it) is to share it. That's why I called this Rant series, "Lighthouse." Because instead of trying to find the light, or go to the light... we need to start to understand that we ARE the light. And nobody puts their light under a basket in order to hide it. They use the light to illuminate things. To show things as they really are. To reveal what was hidden. The light shines, and we see things clearly. And the whole point of a lighthouse was to keep ships from hitting the rocks. To keep people safe. We don't try to "expose sin." We don't try to put people on blast, if I can say it that way. We expose who God really is. He is light. And there is no darkness in Him at all. He is love. And love doesn't keep a record of rights and wrongs. When the light shines, we see the Divine Order of things, and we run TO God (love) instead of running FROM Him!