Look up on a clear night. The number of stars overhead boggles the imagination. There are a billion billion tiny pinpoints of light up there, each one a fiery, burning star akin to our sun.
One thing we can’t see just by looking up is that most of them are binary star systems. That means two or more stars rotate around each other, putting two suns in the skies of each planet.
Take the star system named Kepler-47. It has a primary sun (the larger of the two) and a secondary sun. They orbit each other every 7.5 days. They sling a solitary planet through an ellipse that takes it from just about where Venus orbits our sun to just past the position of Earth.
That’s important, because it’s what scientists call the “habitable zone.” We could rename it the Goldilocks zone: Not too close, and not too far away for life to be possible. The Earth falls in the Goldilocks zone around our sun, and that’s why our atmosphere doesn’t get ripped away by the fierce solar winds, and the water in our oceans remains in liquid form.
We have to find the Goldilocks zone in our personal lives, also. It’s the zone where the people around us aren’t scorched by our possessive need to own them, yet they aren’t frozen out by our indifference.
We have to keep people in our love zone.
1 John 4:7-8 defines what goes on in our love zone. When we let people inside, they will feel the joy of God emanating from us in everything we do.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Colossians 3:12 paints a picture of the beauty that will draw people into our love zone. When they see us reflecting the awesomeness of God, they will know it’s safe to be at our side.
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…”
Matthew 17:5 gives people a strong signal the dispossessed can lock onto. When we tout the truth of Christ, they will know we offer them safety in our love zone.
“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ ”
1 John 3:1-2 explains why some people are still landing on desolate and uninhabitable worlds searching for reassurance that someone cares. They are looking for love where it cannot be found. We need to raise our banners higher so that they can find our love zone.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
We need to be Kepler-47s for Jesus. He is our primary star, our eternal source of power, controlling everything we do. We are secondary to him, orbiting him closely and at a phenomenal speed. When we let ourselves be drawn into this tightly-knit configuration, the poor, the lost, and the hurting will be pulled into our love zone, and they will find eternal peace in the love of our Holy God.
When we orbit God, we will draw others to him.
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Code: FGO.D.12.15.vp.esv
Originally Published: 06-15-15 in Relationships