Thursday, April 12, 2007
You are probably a believer in heliocentricity, right? Now that is not a new denomination. It just means that the sun is the center of our solar system and all the planets, including this little tennis ball we live on, are revolving around the sun. We do sound a little confused about this sometimes, like when we say, "Isn't that a beautiful sunset?" Actually, the sun isn't going anywhere; we're the ones who are moving. But who wants to go for a romantic walk to watch a beautiful earthset? Well, apparently, not everyone's got this orbit thing straight. The American Scientific Association did a survey a few years ago and they found that 21 percent of Americans surveyed thought the sun orbited around the earth, and seven percent said they didn't know.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When a Planet Becomes Your Sun."
So, there's some confusion about the fact that the planets revolve around the sun, not the sun around the planets. That's not just a scientific issue. It's a spiritual issue, too. Because too many of us have forgotten what is supposed to be the "sun" at the center of our life. We've put one of the "planets" of our life at the center, and in reality, everything is revolving around it. The Bible would call that a word we wouldn't like to accept - it's an idol.
Someone listening today is living in violation of the First Commandment, as recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 20:3. Heading the fundamental Law of God, the Ten Commandments, is this imperative: "You shall have no other gods before Me." Our instinctive response is: "Well, excuse me. I don't have any little images that I pray to in my closet." That's blatant, overt idolatry. But idolatry is far more than that. That's why, for example, greed is called idolatry in Colossians 3:5.
In real terms, your "god" isn't what you say you believe in, it's whatever you revolve your life around, what you think about most of the time, what you spend your time and money on, whatever is your bottom line in your life-choices. Obviously, we are to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" ( Deuteronomy 6:5). He is the sun in the universe of every life. Everyone and everything else is just a planet that is supposed to revolve around Him, and our beliefs agree with that. It's our everyday behavior that's the problem. It could be that at this moment in your life, you’re actually revolving around one of the planets in your life, and you're treating Jesus like He should revolve around it, too.
Maybe the real "sun" in your personal universe is your children. They're supposed to be very important to you, but not the center of your life. Maybe your marriage or your strong desire to be married is what you've put at the center. Your business or your career could become an idol, a relationship, your stuff, your plans, even your ministry can become an idol; you've started serving the work instead of serving the Lord.
If the sun were ever to leave its place at the center of our solar system, it would mess up everything else. When you put what's supposed to be a "planet" in your life at the center, nothing works right. And it could be that Jesus is not really the sun around which everything else in your life is revolving right now and the result is going to be chaos, confusion, and collapse.
That's why this wakeup call from God - to put the sun - actually, the Son of God - back at the center of everything you're about. Remember God's first order to the human race: "No other gods." And pray with the hymn writer, "The dearest idol I have known, help me to tear it from the throne and worship only Thee."