Put Out The Sun

C.S. Lewis once said that “a man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” When I first stumbled across this quote, I glanced over it and didn’t give it much thought. A little later, I stopped to really consider just what Lewis meant and it really convicted me about my life. So often I make following Jesus something that is about me by believing I somehow deserve God’s grace and a lot of blessings. Of course I would never admit that I think I am the center of Christianity but my actions and thoughts definitely suggest it. I’m sure most have heard that Jesus came to die so we can go to Heaven but, while this is definitely amazingly true, I think we leave off the more important part of His sacrifice.

What I mean is that the Bible isn’t necessarily a story about humans and our struggle but about God and His glory. The book is laced with verses clearly stating that everything, including our salvation, is to bring honor and praise to Him. For example Psalm 106: “Yet he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make known his mighty power,” Psalm 25: “For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great,” Psalm 23: “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” These are only three verses, I could have used many more, but I think you get the point. No matter what does or does not happen God is working all things for His greater good. What frustrates me is that I take my eyes off God’s bigger plan and focus on the unimportant. When we die what does it really matter how many championships the Gator’s won, how much money we have in our bank accounts, or who our friends were? Everything is meaningless when we lose the heart of why we are here.

To make a long story short, we as the Christian community must be very cautious lest we forget that history is not intended to bring man any praise whatsoever. God has done everything past, present, and future to reveal His holiness. For me, these thoughts begin with how I read and interpret the Bible. A lot of times I open it up to solve a problem in my life (and usually end up taking an obscure verse out of context) but maybe we should look to the Bible as a means to better understand God’s character. I think if we can consistently view our lives as a small part of God’s larger purpose, we won’t become stressed with day to day issues. We are instead free to worship the Creator who, rather than giving every insignificant human the awful death we deserve, has chosen to give His people grace and let us worship Him for eternity.

Tom