Last week I led a Bible Conference in North Carolina on the theme of “The Eclipse of God.” The general idea is that we allow things, or stuff, to come between us and God thus making Him appear to not be present. Much like in a solar eclipse, when the moon gets between the earth and the sun and casts a shadow across the earth, it appears that the sun disappears or loses its power. But nothing could be further from the truth. The sun remains just as bright, just as hot and just as powerful as when it is shining at noon day. But it just doesn’t appear to be so.
In our lives we allow “stuff” to cast a shadow on our lives that makes God seem to be weaker or not as glorious. Who at times hasn’t made a comment to the effect, it just seems my prayers don’t get past the ceiling and seems as if God is not there or doesn’t care. Again, nothing could be further from the truth.
Now, there are obvious things that can “eclipse” God in your life. Known purposeful sin is the most obvious, and so are the things that David, in Psalm 19, called, “presumptive sins” which are those we tend to excuse as only being “little sins.”
One of the things that I mentioned in one of the sessions was that we can also “eclipse” God with the language we use. I was speaking with someone this week who was told that a friend’s dog had just had puppies. This person responded, “that’s awesome.” I was walking down the street with someone and they saw a new corvette parked on the curb and again their response was, “wow, that’s awesome.” I was even eating with someone the other day, we were having burgers (and good ones no doubt) and my friend said, “this hamburger is awesome.” Do you see where I am going?
The word “awesome” is a word that means to see something and stand in awe of it. It is a word that when applied to something means that it causes me to want to fall down and worship it, I am so struck by it. I don’t know about you but I have never seen a car (even a vette) or a puppy (even a litter) or a food product (though I love to eat) that made me want to fall down and worship it.
It just appears to me that we do serve an awesome God. When I think of His character and attributes and glory I want to fall down and worship Him. But when we speak in the same way about everything else in the world, do we not lessen His glory in the eyes of those who know we are Christians? If the same word is used to describe God and a car, or a dog, or food . . . well, you get my picture.
I know I am probably going to be viewed as out of step with this post-modern culture we live in. But that’s OK. I once had a staff member who accused me of trying to be controlling of other people, simply because I thought this word ought to be reserved for God, and I said so in a sermon.
I don’t want my language eclipsing God in my life or in other’s lives. It just seems to me to be prudent that we reserve one descriptive word for God alone. Awesome seems to be that word, in my humble opinion. What do you think?
Filed under: Reformation, The Gospel, Theology, Worship | 4 Comments »
Here I Stand . . . I Can Do Nothing Else 