A Tale Of Three Planets (or Plunging Into The Sun)

Our solar system is an amazing place. It is made up of 8 planets (and the demoted Pluto…poor little guy!) of different sizes and material consistencies moving ceaselessly and with precision around a central star which blazes at a temperature of 9,940 degrees Fahrenheit.

Consider the sheer distance of Pluto from the sun, a distance of 3.67 billion miles. Pluto is a very cold place. Its surface temperature is -380 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine if you could stand on the surface of Pluto and gaze at the sun. Unlike the brightness and warmth that we enjoy from the Sun here on Earth, the Sun’s appearance would be only like a very bright star, and its effect on the sky would be similar to a full moon on earth.  

Earth itself is 93 million miles away from the Sun. For human beings, the temperature range and brightness of the sun, although not always pleasant to our individual tastes in every locale, is generally tolerable.

Mercury, the closest planet to the sun,  with its elliptical orbit, ranges from a “mere” 28.5 million miles to 43 million miles away from the Sun, depending on where it is in its orbit. The surface temperature of Mercury is widely variable, depending on which side is facing the Sun. The “hot” side peaks at around 800 degrees Fahrenheit, while the “cold” side drops to a frigid -300 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun appears 2 ½ times larger in the sky than on Earth during the day, which is the equivalent of 88 earth days. The night, which is also the length of 88 earth days, is dark and unimaginably cold.

With this “science lesson courtesy of Google” in mind, I would like to point out how these three planets represent three types of people and then perhaps recommend a very different kind of person that we could all strive to be. In these analogies, I am talking more specifically about Christians, and the Sun represents God.

Many people are like Pluto. They said a prayer for salvation many years ago, they may attend church frequently or infrequently, they are good neighbors, they try not to cuss, etc. When it comes to intimately knowing Christ (Philippians 3:7-11) and living in obedience to the scriptures (Luke 6:46-49), however, the “light” of truth that they have in their lives is dim and too distant to produce any heat to melt the hardness and coldness, and allow life to flourish. When they look into the sky, the Sun is lost in the clutter of other “stars”, with very little to cause it to stand out as significant.

Others are like Earth. The Sun exists to make them comfortable. The Sun represents no real danger to them personally outside of the occasional sunburn, for which we have a wide array of aloes and ointments to take away the sting. These folks enjoy the sun for pleasure’s sake as long as it stays a safe, warm distance away. These are the people who want Jesus to keep them fat and happy, to prosper them and to meet all their needs. Answer my prayers, but keep a safe distance. Don’t make me give up my stuff, my status, or my life. Life is a perpetual vacation in the Sun! They follow Jesus for the bread he provides, but have never feasted on the Bread of Life that he is (see John 6). 

Still others are like Mercury. They bask in the intense heat of the Sun for extended periods, during which they are all but blinded by its heat and nearness. They enjoy Bible and worship conferences, short-term mission trips, and the occasional trek across the tracks to the bad side of town to give a bum a second-hand shirt and a sandwich. The “secular” side of their lives (as they call it), however, is a long, dark night. At work, home, or play they are cold and silent. They wait for the next spiritual high or ministry opportunity that will thaw them out and give them intensity and purpose. Sometimes they are fiery hot and sometimes they are icy cold, but their “average temperature” is lukewarm (Revelation 3:15-22).

Now imagine that the distance from the surface of Pluto to the center of the Sun represents a spectrum of Spiritual life. Where are you right now? Are you standing on Pluto? Cold? Distant from the life of God? Has your distance from him made him seem smaller than he really is?  Do you find it difficult to spot Him among the rest of the concerns (the stars) of your life? The solution is to move towards the Sun!

Perhaps you are like Earth. The sacrifice of Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, means nothing more to you than a ticket to material blessing and comfortable living. The demands of His Gospel only serve to burn you, but you soothe the burns by the ointment of reasoning, saying Jesus was only speaking metaphorically; he wouldn’t really require you to give up your life in order to find it (Matt 10:39, 16:25). If this is you, I urge you, move toward the Sun!

Those of you finding yourself on Mercury, addicted to one spiritual high after the next, never able to live beyond thrill so that you could find yourself in abiding relationship, there is only one answer to your plight! Move toward the Sun!  Let the light and heat illuminate and ignite every part your life, even the parts you have wrongly categorized as “secular”.

As you approach the Sun you will notice something. Its light and heat are far too intense for you to have any possible hope of survival. You cannot live apathetically on the surface of the Sun. You cannot take a vacation on the surface of the sun. The Sun’s intensity will never allow you to retreat from it for a season of coldness. The only thing you can plan on doing as you rush headlong toward the sun is DYING. The Sun will consume us along with all of our meaningless and petty agendas and desires. The light and heat of the Sun will envelope us. It will leave no trace of us in which to glory. A commitment to the Sun is a final, all-in proposition. For those who would truly follow Jesus, it’s the only way to go; losing our life in Him so that we can really live…” for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29 ESV)”.