Arizona has its share of sunny days as we have an average 292 days each year when the skies are clear and bright. In the summer months the heat can beat down in such a way that we are determined to stay inside under air conditioning.
I remember a day last summer when my wife and I decided we needed to take a trip to Sam’s Club in Bullhead City. The temperature in one section of the town was 127 degrees. As we walked across the parking lot our shoes were sticking to the asphalt.
Though it is getting cooler with the onset of fall, there are still many who enjoy being outside in the sun. It seems that on weekends, the parks and campgrounds are at capacity as hundreds (perhaps thousands) gather along the Colorado River to enjoy the sun-filled day. On Labor Day weekend the river was dangerously abuzz with boats and jet skis moving across the water like ants on an ant hill.
We have all heard the term ‘sun worshipper.’ It simply implies that the individual loves being outdoors in the sun just relaxing and soaking up its warmth. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with being in the sun, the worship of it is to be devalued. Rather than worshipping the sun, our hearts should be turned to worship the Son, Jesus Christ.
God, who gave us the sun, which definitely aids us in a healthy physical life, has also given us His Son that we mighty have a healthy spiritual life – that is, life abundant and free. John, the aged apostle, wrote in 1 John 7:11-12 and said, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Salvation and eternal life are not dependent upon works or good deeds (though these should be present in our daily life), or what we are able to give back to God in thanksgiving of what He has already done for us. Eternal life is based upon a relationship with God through faith in, and acceptance of Hos Son, Jesus Christ.
As the sun gives forth light for all to see, Jesus Christ has come as the Light of the World, that in Him, we might step out of the darkness of sin and into the light of everlasting life. So, as you sit under the warmth of the sunshine you desire, remember to look into the face of the creator and Son who gives life in its fulness.
- Jerry L. Dunn, Oak Street Baptist Church
