Be the Moon

Have you ever found yourself wide awake in the middle of the night and unable to get back to sleep? For most of us, the answer to that is a resounding "Yes". When you are plagued by sleeplessness and find yourself walking about your room or house, you might notice a single bright light spilling through your window: the moon. 

Thanks, Google. This is a gorgeous shot of the moon.

When I was a little kid, my family and I were on vacation. I can't remember where to, but I distinctly remember seeing the huge Harvest Moon rising over the road just between the trees. I matter-of-fact-ly announced, "The moon is so beautiful here". I clearly didn't understand that the moon you see is always the same moon no matter where you go. (I also used to think that the moon chased the car as we drove down the road, but that is another story for another day.) The point of this is simple: God reveals His greatness to us in the simplest of ways and if we aren't listening we just might miss what He is trying to tell us. 

Fast forward from my childhood to last night. I was standing in my car port looking out at the night sky- a dark and mysterious blue canvas dotted here and there with small stars, but with nothing shining brighter than the moon. The moon was perfectly full and shone in a way so that not only was it bright, the sky around it was too. You know those moments when facts you don't often think of just pop into your head? This was one of them. All of the sudden, I remembered that the light the moon gives off isn't really light from the moon at all. Rather, the moon reflects light from the sun. I stood for a moment in awe of the moon's beauty until I finally thought: "Oh, I see now! Thanks, God." 

In and of ourselves we have no light. With Jesus in our hearts, we reflect the light of The Son- the ultimate source of light. We may try to shine apart from Him, but the cold, hard truth is this: when we try to outshine the Son, we aren't the moon. We are one of those stars barely flickering in the distance that, with light-years taken in to account, likely burned out a very long time ago. We are trying to sustain ourselves even though that is ultimately impossible. Without Christians who are willing reflect Jesus' light and to not strive to shine on their own, the world would be like a moonless night. People would stumble around aimlessly in the darkness with nothing to show them that there is a better way.  

Now, yes, the sun is a star just like all the stars in the night sky. Think about it like this, the sun is the only star in our solar system. (Hence the word "solar".) Yes, there may be other stars out there that are enticing and interesting, but the sun is our star. It is the one that makes our lives possible and without the sun we would be utterly doomed. Therefore (like how I used that, Paul fans?), the fact that the moon reflects the light of the sun is pretty awe-inspiring. Or at least I think so. 

We must be willing to first die to ourselves in order for God to make us shine brighter than we ever could have imagined. When we try to take our sparkle into our own hands, we have no light. We have nothing to separate us from the countless masses of self-seeking people who just want to see themselves shine. God has a plan for us that is for something far greater than our glory. God wants to use us to shine for His glory. The thought that He who put the Sun in the sky that makes our lives possible and sent His Son to us to save us from a life apart from Him would allow us to reflect the light of Jesus like the moon reflects the sun is a thought that is completely humbling, inspiring, and also a little terrifying if you think about it. When we endeavor to reflect Jesus in our lives, we can't take this task lightly. Our success, yes- even our failure, in doing so doesn't only impact our lives. It can potentially have an eternal consequence on those around us who are still sleepless at night looking for the light. They are searching for something that casts out the darkness. Sometimes it seems like the night is never-ending, but the light you reflect might just be what helps bring the light of Jesus into there lives.

The question is this: Are you reflecting Jesus or trying to shine on your own?