Eclipse of the Heart

You saw it yesterday, didn’t you? If not in person, surely you’ve seen in it on TV. It was a once in a lifetime phenomenon! My students at school were over the moon excited to see it through special glasses. Yep, – THE SOLAR ECLIPS; a moment in time when the moon slides between the earth and the sun, and the sun’s brilliance gradually fades. Its effect is most dramatic and magical. The heavens truly declared the glory of God, and yes, the skies proclaimed the work of His hands.

But you know, that eclipse had me, in the back of my yard, while soaking up some natural vitamin D, thinking real deeply 🤔. Uhm-Hmm😌- I had to ask the question; Melody, how does this event apply to your Christian walk? I was able to make many connections and can take this nugget into many directions, but the direction I’ll take is the one that bothered me into the nighttime, “Melody,” the thought came to me, “too many Christians are experiencing a total eclipse of the heart”.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an eclipse as the total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another. It is with this in mind that I thought of the fact that, as followers of Christ, we often live with Christ eclipsed in our hearts. We get a bit of Him in our hearts, but that light of His glory is partially obscured, and fades in the light of the things of the world. When Christ is truly residing in hearts, shouldn’t His glory be bursting from within? Wouldn’t we be bubbling over with excitement that it’s almost impossible to keep this light to ourselves? Think about it, how many Christians do you see showing forth the light of God in their conduct, speech, appearance and deportment? What about you? When people look at you, interact with you, do they see the light of Christ; God’s Glory?

Christ is often eclipsed in our hearts by the glitter of worldly praises and distractions. We get so focused on accumulating things, popularity, status, accolades – all the things we hope will bring happiness or satisfaction, that the light of God, that so desperately want to shine from within, is faded by our desire of these things.

I like the way one of my favorite author puts it. She said,

“The hearts of those who are members of the church must be open to receive every ray of light that God shall choose to impart. God has light to impart to us according to our ability to receive, and as we receive the light, we shall be capable of receiving more and more of the rays of the Sun of Righteousness.”

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew :16)

Let us be careful not to allow the things of this world to eclipse Christ’s light in our lives. Let’s shine bright that others may see our lives and not praise us, but praise Him.

Let this total eclipse remind you to never allow His glory to be eclipsed with things of the world.

De-eclipse.

Merry Melodious Melody

PS -I’m curious, what other things came to mind as you watched yesterday’s eclipse.