The importance of getting burned...
This past Sunday I was speaking on First John, and while I was teaching through this portion of Scripture I was trying to articulate the important similarities of getting sunburned, and living out the Christian faith.
In the passage of Scripture in 1 John 1:6-7, the Bible tells us:
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Walking in the "light" means that we are being reflections of God to this dark and lost world, much like the moon reflects the light of the sun as it abides in darkness. And on Sunday I was pointing out the fact that whenever we are exposed to the sunlight, we will be impacted by it as well. Not only will we be able to see clearly where we are traveling, but if we get too close to the sun or stay in the presence of the sun for too long, we will also get burned. In a similar way we will also be impacted by Jesus when we walk with Him in the light. Not only will we be able to see clearly, but we will also be impacted by being in His presence for too long as well.
An example that the Sun sets for us in our relationship with Jesus can be seen in an event that took place on my honeymoon. When Lyndsey and I got married we were blessed to go to Tahiti for our Honeymoon. While we were in Tahiti we went on what was called the “Outdoor Excursion”. It was so much fun. We were able to snorkel in the beautiful water that was the clearest water I have ever seen. It was like being in a swimming pool. We were able to swim with Sting Ray’s, Eel’s and Sharks. I have to tell you that when we went swimming with the sharks, it wasn't a fun experience for us. The only thing that separated us from these sharks that were about 4-5 ft in length and being fed huge chunks of meat, was a rope that all of the other tourists were holding onto. It's not like the sharks are going to see this rope, and think to themselves, "Oh no, this is an imaginary wall. I know the rules. We can't pass that imaginary line or we are going to be put on time out. Rats!" These sharks don't understand the "rope rule". They never went to preschool, they don't get the concept about ropes! I remember thinking to myself at the time how crazy it was for us to be out there swimming with sharks! So we stayed back about 25 yards behind all of the heavyset people who looked like much better meals than we were, and who were slower swimmers. You know, I am just saying, we saw Jaws as kids, and we know how these stories turn out!
But the point of this story is when we went to Tahiti, my skin was pale white due to the fact that I worked behind a desk in an office. And so one of the bright ideas that I got while I was out there is that I would leave the suntan lotion off for the first hour or so, so that I could get some color. Though Lyndsey tried to reason with me about the health dangers in doing that, I told her that I would be fine. I know my body, and I can handle this. And so an hour later I decide to put my suntan lotion on, and at that point I was thankful because I could already see some great color coming in. However, this wasn’t actually a good thing because we still had a very long day ahead of us, out in the hot Tahitian sun. By the time we got back from our Outdoor Excursion, I ended up looking like a large Burnt Red Lobster that had just been boiled in a pot of scolding hot water.
It didn’t look like I had been laying out IN THE SUN all day! It looked more like I had been laying out ON THE SUN ALL DAY! I was so overly burned by not wearing protective sunscreen, that I had a severe case of heatstroke. Heatstroke occurs when the body becomes overheated through overexposure to the sun and the brain cannot control the cooling process of the body. Heatstroke causes Dehydration, Nausea, Dizziness, Fatigue, and Headaches, and I was being baptized in all of them! When I was in the presence of the Sun for too long, it was clearly evident to anyone who saw me! I didn’t have to go around telling anyone about the fact that I had a horrible sunburn! I didn’t even have to tell people about how uncomfortable it was. Everyone could visually see that I had been in the Sun too long.
Here we are on a tropical island, young, and blessed and I have my new young and beautiful Hottie-Pototie Christian Wife, and everywhere we go I am thinking that I am so cool. But do you know how hard it is to look cool when your on a tropical island with a sunburn that is so bad you look like a lobster? Not only that but the Aloe Vera lotion I had put on to ease the pain was very sticky, and so everywhere I went I looked like this burnt red tourist, who was a complete moron. I was covered with an uncomfortable hot sunburn, and I felt as if someone had poured a gallon of Cool-Aid over my head that had dried on my skin, due to the fact that I was sticky all over. I not only had the world’s hottest and worst sunburn ever, but I also experienced the worlds longest period of skin-peeling that anyone has ever went through after being sunburned. I was literally peeling for months after that. You want to talk about grossing your new bride out on a regular basis? If my back didn’t look bad enough from all the peeling, the dead skin that I left each night on our bed, certainly grossed her out. But God bless her, because she sure hung in there with me and helped me through that entire ordeal!
The point of this illustration is this. When I was on my honeymoon with Lyndsey and I was purposely in the presence of the Sun without protection, I was noticeably changed because of it. From the condition of my skin tone, to the internal changes in my health. And it is no different when we are in the presence of the Lord, we will be noticeably changed by it as well! In fact, if spending time with Jesus and being in His presence throughout the day could be equated to getting a sunburn, then our only goal in life as Christians should be to get burned from within by Jesus each and every day of our lives.
Just as the Sun changes the condition of our skin tone, so too does walking in God’s Marvelous Light with Jesus change the condition of our lives. By being in God’s light, He removes the darkness from our lives. When we are in a relationship with God, and walking with Jesus in the Light, the darkness will be removed from our lives. This is why it is so important for us to experience the Son burning in our hearts and minds, because if we are not being changed by being in His presence, then we are walking in darkness, deceiving ourselves, and not practicing the truth.
May this be the moment in your life where you begin walking in the light as He is in the light, so that Jesus can begin transforming your life from the inside out. Let's get burned together with Jesus!
