Jesus is Always There
Hello - and yes it is hard to believe that half of January is nearly gone! The days are getting shorter, and winter is on its way! O well, nearly anyway! It's a reminder that nothing stands still. Let us praise God that He is from everlasting to everlasting, totally reliable and a wonderful heavenly Father.
There's just something fascinating about a lighthouse. I read a magazine feature recently about a photographer who loves to photograph the seagulls which make their homes near lighthouses. In a small customized aircraft, he flies over the many picturesque lighthouses on the American Coast, shooting unusual aerial photos of the seagulls.
They're beautiful; they're even inspiring. He's seen them and photographed them in all kinds of settings: sunshine, clouds, storms, high tide, and low tide. He summarized what he's seen this way: "The lighthouse is always there, but everything else is changing."
And then I read of an experiment with a group of teenagers. They were to take four 3x5 cards and write the four most important things in their lives on those four cards. When they finished, they were told, "OK, a disaster has just come into your life and you're going to lose one of the most important things in your life; except you're going to choose which one. Drop one card."
After some thought, they dropped one. That request was repeated another time, and again - and each time there was more resistance - after all it's not easy to drop or disregard the most important things in one's life. And so when everyone was finally down to just one card, the leader said, "You're holding a card which represents what is the most important thing in your life."
The problem, not just with young people but with everyone, is that those things or people whom we think are most important to us and couldn't possibly do without, are things which in the end, are not able to help us through times of crisis, and - certainly not - through the times when we may face death.
Now among the last cards that the young people held onto - the thing or person they regarded as the most important in their lives, were - a girlfriend, a new sports car, work, guitar etc. I guess if we were honest about what we thought were the most important things in our lives, we would say things like - having a secure future, the means to live comfortably, a good bank balance, being able to travel, good health etc.
But honestly, how could any of these help you through a crisis? How could any of these give you security in the time of facing death? We need, in essence, a lighthouse - something we can totally depend on when everything else is changing. Actually we need someone who is - as the photographer said about those lighthouses - "always there".
If you've already lost some of the cards that mattered most to you in your life, then you know how much we need something that's unloseable, something unmoving that will stand the unpredictable weather because the weather in our world, even in our lives, is becoming more and more unpredictable as time goes on.
The lighthouse that never moves is beautifully described in God's Word in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." As relationships come and go, as jobs and houses and possessions come and go, as our health changes, our feelings or our family, Jesus Christ remains our personal lighthouse who never moves, never changes … IF we know Him.
Let me just quote the Bible verse leading up to verse 8 in Hebrews 13: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Then it says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." From the nursery to the nursing home to the funeral home, Jesus is a Saviour and friend you can totally, totally trust and One you'll never, never lose. Jesus secured the possibility of this relationship when He died on the cross to pay that death penalty for all the sins in your life.
This unloseable relationship becomes yours when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trust Him to completely remove the sin-wall between you and God forever, and believe that He is able to lead you safely through all the rough spots and hurtful times in your life, to finally lead you into everlasting glory.
The world is becoming less and less secure and uncertain, but Jesus is the lighthouse who will be "always there" for you. There is nothing uncertain about His love and keeping power. Take His hand now and He will never let you go. Grace and peace...