Lesson From Nature - Full or New Moon?

Last night was impressive.  Vicky and I came back from the store and were commenting about how bright it was.  We walked out to the street and noticed that there were shadows on the driveway from the trees across the street.  We turned around and saw our own shadows.  All coming from the Full Moon at 9:30 at night.

It's amazing to think how the moon can cast a shadow because it is so bright.  The moon is not the source of the light, it merely is reflecting light from a greater source... the sun.  The moon is functioning as a giant mirror in the sky reflecting the brightness of the sun that is shining on the other side of the world.

However, as you can see above--the moon is not always full.  It waxes and wanes depending on the time of the month and it's position around the earth. 

Sometimes the moon will be so bright it can cast a shadow.  Other times, you'll barely be able to see it at all.

All of that got me to thinking.  Which would I rather be?  The Full moon or the New moon?

As believers in Jesus, we are supposed to be more like the Full moon--fully reflecting a glory that is not our own.  We are not a source of the light, we merely reflect the glory that belongs to and comes from God.


2 Corinthians 3:18-- "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."


We reflect a glory that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:3 - "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word."

The more we are like Christ, the more we reflect His glory.  The more we allow ourselves to be conformed into the image of Jesus, the greater light that shines from us--or more accurately reflects from us.

My problem is that some days, I am more like the New moon than I am the Full moon.  I am like one of the phases--I reflect some light, but am darkened in other areas.

The world is covered in a darkness and it needs the light of our Savior reflected in our lives.

How about you?  What kind of moon are you?

Possum Christians--Lessons from Nature

Here’s a lesson from nature that fits too much of the church today.

Opossums are famous not for their rugged good looks,

but for the act of “playing dead”.

Much of this behavior is probably over exaggerated, but the point is that at times, the possum stops running to get away from an advancing threat—many animals have a chase instinct—if it runs away from you, chase it and eat it. The reason is that the possum employs this tactic is because it is not very fast, doesn’t see well, isn’t very smart, and does not possesses a fearsome array of weapons. Playing dead is often its best chance at survival.

It is really alive, but it acting dead as if it were dead. If you were to walk up to a possum in this situation, you may be more inclined to avoid it. I’ve heard numerous stories of people picking up what they thought was a dead animal only to have it jump, hiss and act all dangerous. This is a tactic the possum employs only on occasion compared with the majority of its time behaving as an alive creature, walking, eating, etc.

This is a contrast to most Christians in America today. Whereas “playing dead” is the unusual circumstance for the possum, “playing dead” is practically standard fare for most of us in the church—don’t think that I’m excluding myself. We are alive, but we act most of the time as if we’re dead—we have little joy, little passion, little desire to serve, little stomach to make Him known. For us, it is the times of vibrancy and being alive that are the more unusual.

We started in this world the living dead. We were able to walk, talk, eat, sleep and do all those things when spiritually we were dead in our sins. Then when we submitted ourselves to Christ and asked Him into our lives, we were made alive—physically and spiritually—to truly live an abundant life that was never possible before. Instead of living this way—we are alive spending most of our time pretending to be dead with only occasional periods of true living.

An opossum plays dead to avoid a threat—we tend to play dead to avoid being threatening, or to avoid responsibility, or to avoid truly being sold out to serve, love and worship God with all our heart, soul mind and strength. We play dead to avoid conflict, we play dead to avoid offending, we play dead to fit in b/c everyone else is playing dead.

What do you think God thinks about this situation? Don’t you think He knows? When my son is pretending to be asleep, it’s obvious for me as his loving father. He does it usually to play, we do it to hide, thinking our lives are threatened. I believe you and I are truly afraid to live as if we were Alive in Christ. We’re more comfortable playing dead.

I’m tired of playing dead! Aren’t you? Can you see it in your own life? What evidences do you have for playing dead? What would an alive Christian look like?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life,

Kelly