For me it was a bit different for lighthouses have a special place in my own life. During my high school years my family lived about a mile or so from the most photographed lighthouse in the United States, Portland Headlight, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It was one of my favorite places for being alone with God, quiet mediation, thinking, or just enjoying the beauty of the ocean.
Portland Headlight is one of a series of lighthouses that guide ships into Portland harbor. I had always thought that the purpose of the lighthouse was simply to flash a warning ships about the dangerous coastline so they could sail safely into harbor. I learned from a Coast Guard Lighthouse attendant that my assumption was wrong.
Portland Headlight is one of four lights along the channel that leads into the harbor. The first is actually on a ship that is anchored at the edge of the channel, known as the light ship. The next light is a lighthouse on the first point and his commonly referred to as Twolights (there are actually two lighthouses located next to each other on the point). Portland Headlight is next in line several miles down the channel and it is followed by a smaller lighthouse built on the end of a manmade causeway at the edge of the harbor. While standing at any one of these lighthouses you easily notice that they are in a direct line.
The lights from these beacons do more than flash a warning. They actually work together to create a stream of light down the channel for ships to follow. From what I was told, when a ship comes to the light ship the pilot steers the ship into the stream of light that the lighthouses create and follows it safely into harbor. The spinning of the lights, which I had thought was to create a flashing effect, are actually timed so that the stream of light remains constant down the center of the channel. As long as the pilot keeps the ship in the stream of light, he will bring the ship safely into harbor.
John instructs Christians to "walk in the light as He (Jesus) is in the light." (1 John 1:7) Just as a ships must stay in the stream of light created by those lighthouses, we must walk in the light that God, Who is light, gives. God's light shines through His Word, both Incarnate (Jesus) and written. It is a narrow beam. Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), tells us that there are two ways. One has a broad gate and is wide. The other, the righteous way, has a small gate and is narrow. God's light is narrow for our protection, not for restriction. Just like the ships remained safe in the stream of light, so we kept safe as we remain in God's light. To live outside of God's light is to live in peril.
As we walk in His light we have "fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin." The fellowship we have is first with God Himself through Jesus. Fellowship with God is made possible because the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. We are unable to stand before a Holy God in our sin, let alone be in fellowship with Him. In loving mercy God has provided us the means by which we can come to Him and walk in fellowship with Him. As we walk in His light, God continues His purifying work in us, ever making us more like Christ.
As we walk in fellowship with Him we are also in fellowship with His people. There is no true fellowship outside of Christ. Those that are not in the light do many things together which mimic fellowship, but are not. Fellowship is, as a young man once said to me, "a meeting of hearts." Such a meeting of hearts can only be done by hearts cleansed by Christ - by people walking in the light. Those in darkness cannot know or experience true fellowship for darkness is a place of lies and deception, which make fellowship unattainable. Fellowship for those in darkness is an impossibility, because sin separates and alienates. Fellowship can only take place in the light. Fellowship is not an option for God's people. It is a present reality which we are to "flesh out" as we walk in the light.
The light has come. We can and must walk in it for there alone we find cleansing and fellowship. Beloved, let us never stray. Let us stay -- in the light!
Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry