Children of Light
By Julia Fowler, Worship Arts Pastor
Text: Ephesians 5:8
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light."
One night the keeper of the lighthouse on a rocky coast was taken ill and was unable to attend the light any longer. Being unable to attend to the machinery of the lamp it malfunctioned and the revolving light stopped. A storm swept the dangerous coast and the lighthouse keeper's boy, a child, climbed up to the lamp and during the long hours of the stormy night turned the lantern with his own hands. In the morning, it was learned that during the night two vessels with seven hundred souls on board had been able to make the harbor by the aid of the revolving light that had been kept in motion by the often tired, but ever vigilant boy. Without knowing it, the faithful boy was the sole means of saving hundreds of lives, all because he was committed to keeping the light where it could be seen.
Are we as vigilant or desperate to keep our own lights shining?
What strikes me most about this story is the perseverance of the young boy. Not only did he see the need (that the light wasn't working), and go to work turning the light crank manually; by hand, but that he was resolved and committed to the task throughout the long hours of the night. I can only imagine what type of physical strength it would have taken for him to manually turn the mechanics of gears and chains that caused that light to turn for so many hours. He must have been in excruciating physical pain; literally exhausted, probably calloused and soar from cramping muscles that hadn't been used that way before.
Why did he make the choice to do that? And what caused him to be so committed despite the pain? Something internal! Whether you want to call it drive, a calling, or a feeling…that young boy knew that light had to shine and that he had to be the one to do it.
We too are called to be a light - a light that points the way so the safe harbor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many are drowning in the seas of sin all around us with no idea which way they should head to get home. You, with your life, have the opportunity to shine that may be their only chance for survival. It may cost you some time - some long hours of the night. It may cost you your physical strength - it may mean perseverance through pain. It may mean never seeing or hearing what resulted from your surrender - but the lives that are changed as a result of your commitment will be beyond this world!
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