Here in our area of the Pacific Northwest, it’s pretty unusual to see the sunshine without it being obscured by a layer of clouds – at least at this time of year. So when the sun does peek out from … Continue reading →

Here in our area of the Pacific Northwest, it’s pretty unusual to see the sunshine without it being obscured by a layer of clouds – at least at this time of year. So when the sun does peek out from behind the clouds, there are some things that happen only at those times:

In fact, it was the shadows that God drew my attention to this morning as I was on my way to work, as each of the cars on the road was casting its shadow on the pavement as it sped along.  Shadows, interestingly enough, can remind us of some important spiritual truths as Christians:

1)     If you face the light, you can’t see your shadow. – If you want to see your own shadow, the only way to do that is to look away from the light.  If you are facing the light and keep looking at it, there’s no way that you can see the shadow you’re casting, because it will always be behind you.  We can’t look at true darkness and true light at the same time.  It just doesn’t work that way.  The same thing holds true for us as Christians.

Consider what the Bible says —

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)
…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

You can sense God’s intended pattern in this verse – when we are willing to admit that we’re headed in the wrong direction (i.e., towards the darkness due to our sin), when we turn from living life that way, and when we turn towards God in prayer, seeking His face, His promise to us is three-fold:  He will hear us…He will forgive us…and He will heal us!

We need to recognize darkness for what it is – the absence of light.  And while we may be attracted to “dark” things in our “flesh”, we need to remember what it means to be a Christian:

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)
  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

As long as we remain here on earth, there will be an internal struggle within each of us regarding certain sinful activities.  But, when we die to ourselves and live through Christ, then the strength that comes from Jesus gives us the ability to choose to avoid those things that are sinful.  The ultimate key is keeping our eyes on Jesus, “the Light of the world” ( John 8:12 )!

2)     Shadows are cast by objects that block the light. – It’s a rare occurrence, but from time to time – depending on where you live – you get to experience the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse.  The last total eclipse viewable from the continental US was in 1979, and the next one won’t be until 2017.  What makes these so special is that the moon completely blocks the sun, casting a complete shadow in a thin band along the moon’s orbit pathway.  The funny thing is the size difference between the moon and the sun – the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon!  What allows the moon – which is so much smaller than the sun – to completely block the sun’s light is the closeness of the moon to us compared with the closeness of the sun.  In other words, the moon is a lot closer to us than the sun, so it’s easier for it to block out the sun’s light. 

Carrying this over to our walk with Christ, there are things that we may encounter or experience in life that can interfere with our relationship with God through Jesus.  We may go through some tough times (illness, death of a loved one, loss of a job, etc.)…or guilt over bad choices we’ve made…or just busy lifestyles.  The problem is that the farther away we get from God, the easier it is for these things to overwhelm us, to stress us out, to frustrate us, etc.  While God doesn’t change ( Malachi 3:6 – “For I am the LORD, I do not change…” , NKJV), sometimes we change in relationship to Him.  So He may seem smaller, even though He isn’t…and when He seems smaller, it allows our problems to seem bigger.

The best solution is to move away from our problems and draw near to God!

Psalm 73:25-28 (NKJV)
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.

3)     Shadows follow us wherever we go. – I think that almost every child, at some point, tries to outrun his or her shadow.  There’s a certain fascination behind the way a shadow does exactly what we do – we wave, and it waves back…we dance, and it dances with us.  Yet, while that’s a lot of fun with a physical shadow, it’s not nearly as much fun with a spiritual “shadow” over our lives.  Sometimes we allow feelings of guilt and shame to shackle us down – it seems like no matter what we do or where we go, we’re haunted by some memory of a past mistake we’ve made.  Those memories follow us around like a shadow…just with a lot more weight.

In times like that, it’s important that we remember the source of the baggage – Satan himself.  The Bible describes him as the one who accuses us of wrongdoing day and night before God ( Revelation 12:10 ).  He’s the one who is trying to trip us up with memories of things we’ve done wrong and past sins in our lives.  But consider things from God’s perspective:

1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 103:11-13 (NKJV)
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.

From God’s perspective, when we confess our sins to Him, by His grace He forgives us…He cleans us up…and He removes all evidence of our sins from us.  God gives us the gift of His righteousness ( Philippians 3:9 ).  As far as God is concerned, the ugly stain of sin in our lives has been removed, and He has washed us as “white as snow” ( Isaiah 1:18 ).  Keeping this in mind allows us to maintain the right perspective on the sin we’ve confessed to God…it’s memory may follow us around, but – just like our shadow – it doesn’t have any power over us!

Of course, there are many more analogies that can be made.  Yet, in the end, our focus needs to be on Jesus at all times, doing like it says in 1 John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” (NKJV)

As the days get longer and we start seeing the sun more and more, let the sunshine remind us to not only spend time in the sun, but also to forget about those spiritual shadows that like to follow us around and invest our time with the Son!

Have a blessed day today!

–Pastor John