1-8-18<\/p>\n
Sometimes, when our minds wander, we think of inconsequential things that seem important for a moment, no more. This evening, for instance, I started wondering about souls in hell \u2013 When some other soul makes them angry, where do they tell them to go?<\/p>\n
Frankly, beyond the fraction of a chuckle, that does suggest a serious matter. There is a hell, it is a place of everlasting damnation and torment. We are told there are eternal fires burning there \u2013 but I have had visions of a worse reality. A couple times when I have felt apart from God \u2013 when I have forsaken Him, not vice-versa \u2013 I have a sense that there is no worse feeling, or fate, than being separated from God. The prospect of that loneliness, apart-ness, solitude in Eternity, represents a coldness<\/em> to me that seems worse then any flames.<\/p>\n Which is all a reminder that part of our jobs as Christians is to work to save people from hell. Is this the same as steering people toward Heaven? Actually, yes: there is no third way, no alternative destination.<\/p>\n Sharing Jesus and the Gospel \u2013 the good news, literally \u2013 is to have people confess with their mouths that Lord Jesus is the Son of God, and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead. They will be saved, according the Romans 10: 9, 10. Thus forgiven and redeemed, souls are spared judgment unto hell.<\/p>\n The job, as I call it, of believers is relatively simple. Not unimportant \u2013 quite the opposite. Too many Christians make<\/em> the Great Commission from Jesus to go and make disciples to be a complicated or onerous job by thinking everything is on their shoulders. They risk offending the Holy Spirit\u2026 whose job it is to \u201cclose the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n We are only charged with planting the seeds. The Holy Spirit cultivates\u2026 and harvests.<\/p>\n In that way my wandering mind today recalled how the Bible is replete, in virtually every chapter, with symbols, \u201ctypes,\u201d meaningful numbers, minerals and woods and gems that have specific and consistent import. So has been religious art, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass windows, poetic verse, Christian literature, and the lyrics of songs and hymns.<\/p>\n One reliable symbol of Christ in song and story is the lighthouse. A couple of favorite hymns or songs build on that symbolism \u2013 Ronny Hinson\u2019s I Thank God for the Lighthouse<\/em>; the Rend Collective\u2019s My Lighthouse<\/em>.<\/p>\n I want to share here that we miss a sweet truth if we seize that symbolism and take from it a lesson that we should be lighthouses that attract sinners, unsaved loved ones, the \u201clost.\u201d In fact the imagery that reflects the Bible\u2019s truth is that Jesus is the lighthouse \u2013 His beams are seen by those in peril; the piercing light attract those \u201cat sea\u201d in their troubled lives.<\/p>\n Our jobs, however, are different but vitally important. In the words of an old Dwight L Moody sermon that inspired hymn-verses by Philip P Bliss in 1871, \u201cLet the lower lights be burning.\u201d What are the lower lights? Once ships in dark and stormy seas know where the shore is, where safe harbors might be found\u2026 lighthouses have had lower lights that shine, not \u2018way out over the dark waters and to distant horizons, but that illumine the rocks and shoals and harbors and docks.<\/p>\n God shines, Jesus calls, the Spirit guides\u2026 and then we, as the \u201clower lights,\u201d welcome the lost. Provide safety. Care for the struggling seamen. Am I nit-picking about God\u2019s commands and our role in discipleship? No. Understanding where God wants us, and what He would have us do in the Kingdom, is essential to understand.<\/p>\n It is interesting that despite the passage of time and the development of technology, lighthouses still are used! I spent every boyhood summer near the famous lighthouse at Barnegat Beach NJ; and my parents lived in the shadows of the Twin Lighthouses at Atlantic Highlands NJ. Now I live in Michigan, whose periphery is dotted with dozens of picturesque lighthouses.<\/p>\n Lighthouses, even those that double as maritime museums, often still operate. Lights \u2013 once flames, then incandescent, might now be halogen \u2013 but still send their beams across the waves. Seamen and shore men might use sonar and computers\u2026 but somehow, also, still rely on the time-tested beams of light. And the \u201clower lights\u201d to guide ships to safety.<\/p>\n Let your lower lights keep burning. Hurting friend, weary pilgrim, struggling seaman\u2026 welcome home!<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n