Have you ever noticed how ominous the ocean is at night?
I arrived at the pastors prayer retreat tonight in Cannon Beach at midnight. It's late and I am physically tired, but my mind was wound up so I brought my bags into my room and went right back out for a walk on the beach. I walked through a bit of the little cozy town of Cannon Beach on my way to the waves and was cheered by the Christmas lights and shop lights still on in the store fronts. I made my way to the beach and started walking across the sand away from the lights of the town and towards the dark ocean with only the breaking foam of the waves visible in the vast blackness. As much as I love the ocean and enjoy night walks on the beach I have to say there is something ominous about the endless expanse of inky void the ocean depths turns into on a foggy cloudless night.
As I came back towards town I was struck with the brightness of the single street light shining down the concrete steps to the sand. I thought to myself, it is good to be called out of the darkness and into the light. It is good to be rescued from the deep covering night engulfing this world and it's inhabitants. I began to think about the promises of scripture, we are holy nation a royal priesthood called out of the darkness and into his marvelous light. Yeah! I thought here is the light of the world calling all of us wondering children out on the night to a place of safety and warmth. All who are weary come home.
But then I thought, we need to go into the darkness to bring others into the light, we can't just sit here in the light and becon. We have to go out there and as long as we don't go so deep into the dark we loose sight of Jesus our light we will be safe. The problem is Jesus isn't waiting back on the shore of safety, he is in the midst of the darkness. He is the light that came into the darkness, he didn't stay in heaven he came here and dwelt among us. So we need to follow him in!
But what if our light gets swallowed up in the darkness and we get lost? What happens if we can't see the safe harbor anymore? The truth is, in Christ we are the light to the world. Paul was called to be the light to the gentiles, in Isaiah the whole nation of Israel is called to be the light to the gentiles. Jesus is the light for the whole world. In Christ we are the light of the world, and a city on the hill can not be hidden.
There are many who has said, "let us run from this evil darkness, take our families and flee into the safe and secluded little cabins in the countryside and wait for Jesus to come." This is putting your light under a bushel! This is not being the light of the world or the salt of the earth!
We must go into and dispel the darkness by shining light like the stars in the heavens as we hold out the word of life. When we go into the places of deep darkness, they are not so dark anymore. When we bring love to the loveless as the apostle John wrote, we are walking in the light.
The darkness of this world need not be so ominous when Christ is shining from the inside out, we become the street lights dispelling the darkness and ushering in the kingdom of light!
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