At about 1pm on Tuesday, May 10, 1994, a group of pastors and secretaries stood just outside the NE doors of our church building. All were staring up into the sky. All were wearing some really cool looking gold colored mylar sunglasses. All were humoring a very excited astronomically-geeked music pastor (me!).
I had dragged them all outside that spring day to witness a truly rare and amazing event: a partial solar eclipse. Solar eclipses don’t occur very often. In fact, the next eclipse visible in our area since that day will be in April, 2024. It happens when the moon lines up directly between the sun and the earth. The moon’s shadow cuts a dark path across the earth that is about 120 miles wide. Flint, Michigan just happened to be near the edge of that shadow on that day. The anticipation was killing me! Finally, it happened. For about 3 minutes, we safely watched the black silhouette of the moon creep slowly across the edge of the sun’s orange disc. We all just gawked at the spectacle and soaked it in. Wow… how cool was that?
While an eclipse of the sun is amazing to behold, there is another kind of eclipse that can bring regret and rob Christ of the brilliance of His glory in this dark world: an eclipse of the Son! Each of us has the potential to create this kind of eclipse. It happens whenever we allow our pride to run rampant in our lives and prevent His glory from shining through us. Proverbs 29:23 says “One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.” (ESV) To prevent this, we have to keep ourselves out of His way and allow the glory of his radiance to shine out through our lives at all times! If you are concerned about pride eclipsing the Son in your life, ask yourself the following questions. If you answer yes to any of these, be careful … you may be eclipsing the Son!
- Do I find myself easily offended when someone else gets credit for something that I worked for?
- Do I secretly believe I’m always right, and “See, I told you so” is a favorite saying?
- Do I find myself doing most of the talking when I am with my family or friends?
- Do I avoid the most unpleasant tasks at home or work?
- Am I eager to take the best seat, best donut or piece of pie?
2024 is still 12 years off. If you are interested, look me up in April and we’ll take in the eclipse together. I’ve got some really cool glasses you can wear!
Pastor Larry