The
spectacular view of the stars in the night sky is one of my favorite things. The
awesome vastness of God’s creation can be experienced even if you never leave the
little patch of ground where you were born.
But,
something hurts the incredible beauty of the night sky; excessive and
inappropriate artificial light (www.darkskiesawareness.org) It’s called light pollution. The invasion by
artificial light into the skies; light that trespasses to where it is not
wanted or needed; the excessive brightness of glare that decreases visibility;
and, the clutter of excessive and confusing light sources that add to the
pollution.
All
of God’s creation benefits from the natural light of day and dark of night,
both are good. Yet, our modern world pollutes the night sky. Creation has
become confused with artificial light.
Light
pollution touches all of us; but, there is other pollution in our life. It’s pollution of our faith. Faith pollution is from sin which grows a polluted
artificial faith and includes: faith in
God invaded by the draw of sin, self, and worldly views; worldly ideas that
trespass into our faith so sin becomes acceptable; the glare of sinfulness and
its acceptance by a worldly culture. It decreases our vision of truth; and, the
clutter of confusing ideas and opinions of special groups that adds to the pollution
of sin and artificial faith.
All
of God’s people benefit from faith. The modern world pollutes with sin and
artificial faith. Faith has become
confused by artificial faith.
Sin
obscures the truth. Faith becomes weak in worldly ideas, acceptance of
sinfulness, and the confusing messages the world expects us to accept and
normalize.
Sin
kills hope. It pollutes and weakens the valor and strength of the human heart
and spirit. Even reason fails when faith is displaced by the sinfulness of
artificial faith.
The
tainting of faith brings struggles to even those of true faith. We hear the whispering of others. “The world cries out terror
on every side! Denounce! Denounce those who believe!” It is all around.
It has been in all times.
Artificial
faith glorifies arrogance, greediness and excess, materialism, immodesty, sex, idleness,
and envy with bitterness and resentment. It promotes an abundance of anger in
the world. It is the champion of pride, gluttony, avarice, lust, sloth, envy,
and anger; seven deadly sins that are the source of artificial faith in self
and the world.
The
same sin puts our selfish needs in our path to God. It is sin that allows us to
forget we are forgiven and that God asks us to sin no more.
The
sin of the world moves to shame us, declaring us outcasts for our true faith
and belief in God. We often just want to run and hide.
People
of good faith, stand strong and bear insult. Even though those who disparage us
have the ear of the world, Jesus tells us “Fear no one.”
“The Spirit of Truth will testify to me and you also will testify.”
We
should fear no one because we are a dwelling
place for God and His love. We testify that the faith
we have is greater than the faith in the world. It is
the spirit of truth, the love from God we share with one another that makes
us a people of true faith.
Our
modern world pollutes our view of the night sky. The same world pollutes our
faith. It began in sin and has been in the world since Adam.
Something
extraordinary and outside of us is needed to clean up the pollution. In faith, we can pray and ask for God’s favor. God has not
forsaken us. By His grace and the gracious gift of one man Jesus Christ -
the pollution of sin is removed - our faith, our
hearts, and our spirits revive.
Like
the night sky, humanity’s faith in God will never go away. In times to come, the
night sky will shine in the splendor of God’s vastness and creation; and, we
will stand before God in awe.
Here
is a pollution warning for all who live in this world.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will
not be known - God know us, God knows were our faith lives. Either our life will acknowledge God in a true and pure
faith or it will be polluted with an artificial faith that denies God.
The
pollution in our lives is cleaned up by surrendering self to God who knows we
have fallen.
Yall
be good, yall be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.
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