September 29

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5: 14-16

What is a lighthouse? A dictionary definition says it is,

a fixed structure in the form of a tower equipped with a light visible to mariners for warning them of obstructions, for marking harbour entrances (Collins).

So does the light need to be on in a lighthouse for you to know that it is a lighthouse? It might seem an obvious question but allow me to unpack my thoughts a little more.

While teaching a year 3 class (7 year olds) this week, one of the tasks they were asked to do was to draw a picture of a lighthouse. ‘But I’ve never seen one!’ came the response from an unhappy student who was thinking that she had failed before she had started the activity. So as a class, in talk partners on the carpet, together we discussed what a lighthouse might be and its uses. Armed with that knowledge, even though most if not all of the children had never seen one, they all managed to draw one. Each one had light emitting out of the top window and I asked them the same question, if the light was switched off would it still be a lighthouse?

Sometimes we have to think like a 7 years old, strip away all of our experience and rational and say it how it is. This was the response that triggered this blog ‘ it still looks like one!’

The question that we need to ask ourselves is, as Christians do people know who we are and what we stand for or do we have to tell them? Does our message shine in the way we live our lives, do our jobs, live with our loved ones?

I have a challenge for you. Click on the link and you will be guided step by step (pausing the video) on how to draw a lighthouse. Please accept this challenge and stick the resulting picture on you fridge door for the next week as a reminder of our key text.

The song for today is by Chris Rice and is called "Go light your world". Please click on the picture to listen.

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here