Daily Devotionals

Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life

Devotional: April 4th

Rising straight up out of the water is the Lorain West Breakwater Light near Lorain, Ohio. It is a simple frame structure looking more like an old house than a lighthouse. The light tower protrudes from the front left corner of the structure as a straight column that projects some ten feet above the roof level. The structure is painted white and the roof is red. It is unmistakeable.

While browsing at a Hallmark store recently I noticed a model of the Lorain West Breakwater Light sitting on a shelf. I had been wanting to add this to my collection and was very excited to see it available. But, this was Hallmark and that usually translates into too rich for my blood. Then I saw a second lighthouse sitting on an adjacent shelf. It was tagged with the same little slip-on tag that the Lorain light had. Both lighthouses were labeled as "Lorain West Breakwater." The second lighthouse looked more like a light in Michigan.

I called for a saleslady to come over. I pointed out that the second light had to be mislabeled voicing my opinion that the second lighthouse looked more like the light in Grand Traverse, Michigan and bore no resemblence to the Lorain light. She looked at the two and agreed. She then removed the tag from the second model and looked underneath. Sure enough, there on the bottom, plain as the face under your nose, was a label; "Grand Traverse Light, Grand Traverse, MI."

Such things happen a lot. Either carelessly or deliberately things get labeled wrong. Many people wear the label of "Christian" without ever truly embracing what that means. Their feeling is that if they attend church long enough and live a pretty good life then they must be Christians. Granted, those things do factor in as what Christians do. But the things you do do not determine what you are. What you are determines the things you do.

"But indeed I also counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." Philippians 3:8, 9 True Christians separate themselves from the pack. They don't get lost in the shuffle of everyday life, they rise above the others just like the Lorain light.