Total Eclipse of the Moon

Did you get up early on March 3rd and watch? The next one is not suppose to happen for our area until 2029. You might be asking watch what? The lunar eclipse or the blood moon. Granted, it was at around 5 in the morning, and most of you were probably asleep. That is the great thing about videos. I am sure you can look it up on the internet and find a video if you were asleep. Whether you saw it live or not, it is pretty cool to think that we are flying through space on earth around a giant sun with a huge moon rotating around us. And yet we have not crashed into each other. That is order and design from the Great Designer, God.

The heavens have always fascinated mankind. Maybe it is the awesome power of the sun or the gravitational pull of the moon. Maybe it is something like the aurora borealis or a solar or lunar eclipse. (All things that we have been blessed to see recently.) Maybe it is just as simple as laying in your backyard counting the stars, admiring a sunrise or sunset. The heavens are fascinating. Again, they show great design, and that designer is God.

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.” -Psalm 19:1-6

In “West Tennessee,” I think that means the heavens are awesome, and they are screaming God is real to us.

Going for the Gold

What is your favorite Olympic sport? Skiing, sledding, or skating? One of my favorite winter sports is curling. I do not know much about the sport, but it makes me laugh when they release the stones and start yelling commands at each other. Especially when it is a team that does not speak English. I will try to mimic what they are saying in the tone they are saying it and in the volume they are saying it. No matter which sport is your favorite, you have to admire the time, effort, and dedication these athletes put into their craft.

Paul may have had some early games in mind when he wrote 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. He talked about how those who compete in the games do so to get a perishable wreath. That is a lot of self-control to get a perishable wreath. You might think our athletes are getting more, like a gold medal, fame, and endorsement deals. But in your grave, what is the value of a perishable wreath over a gold medal? In the grave, their value is the same. As Christians, we have something better that lasts beyond the grave. That is our relationship with Jesus. As a child of God, I have an inheritance of a home with the Father forever. Wreaths, gold, fame, and fortune fade away, but heaven does not (1 Peter 1:3-5).

Let’s turn back to how these athletes get the gold. Self-control. If these athletes are willing to  practice self-control in what they eat and how they train to win a perishable wreath, how should we be living in light of the promises of God? Paul talks about disciplining his body and making it his slave so he will not be disqualified. I do not want to be disqualified from an eternal inheritance so that means I need to practice self-control. Like the athletes in the games, I need to be willing to say “no” to some things I might think I want and “yes” to some I might not think I want. Are you going for the gold or for God?

Enough

“There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” -G. K. Chesterton. This quote is something we need to hear. We just finished the holiday season where we got more. I wonder how many of those things that we had to have are still even in use a month and a half later. We build bigger homes, garages, and sheds for our stuff. If we run out of room, we just rent a storage unit. I get it; the temptation is everywhere with commercials on television, ads on the internet, my friends/co-workers have something new. I believe we begin to believe if we just had something else, something newer, something bigger, etc., we would be happy. That is the lie the world is telling us because it is caught in the same trap of wanting more so it has to get your money to get more. It is a vicious cycle that never ends because there is always more to get or desire.

What is the solution? The second part of the quote is the answer. Desire less. It reminds me of what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:7-10. All the things we have did not come with us and are not going with us. We need to learn to be content with what we have and not always be chasing something else. The continual pursuit of more or as Timothy says “want to get rich” plunges us into ruin. I think Solomon would refer to that as vanity and chasing after the wind. We must learn that God is enough, and we can be content with whatever blessings we have in our lives. I think this is what Paul is discussing in Philippians 4:11-13. There were times in Paul’s life that the physical blessings were lean, and there were times they were abundant. Paul had learned, no matter the physical situation, to be content and that came from God. Are you content with God? Is He enough for you, no matter what you have physically?