THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF GOD

You may have heard of Sir Isaac Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation. The website physics.weber.edu explains it in layman terms. "The force of gravity acting between the earth and any other object is directly proportional to the mass of the earth, directly proportional to the mass of the object, and inversely proportional to the square distance which separates the centers of the earth and the object." Have you ever given any thought to the gravitational pull on objects, in particular to the earth's gravitational pull?

If you don't like science, please hang in here with me through this next paragraph. It's foundational to a spiritual application which follows that I would like for you to consider.

I would like to go farther, much farther, and challenge you to think about the gravitational force of the Sun. Here are a few facts about the Sun. The Sun's gravity is about 27.9 times that of the earth. My weight on the sun would be just shy of 5,000 pounds. I would definitely need to go on a diet. "The Sun is the largest object in our solar system. It would take more than 1.3 million Earths to fill the Sun's volume. The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way, bringing with it the planets, asteroids, comets, and other objects in our solar system. Our solar system is moving with an average velocity of 450,000 mph. But even at this speed, it takes about 230 million years for the Sun to make one complete trip around the Milky Way. (solarsystem.nasa.gov)

Now we get to the interesting part. Why doesn't the earth plunge into the Sun? It's actually very hard because the earth is traveling almost entirely sideways relative to the Sun at approximately 67,000 mph. This balances the gravitational effect and keeps it from flying out into space or falling into the Sun. To escape the gravitational pull of the Sun you would have to travel at a speed of 382 miles a second.

How, you may ask, does this relate to the Bible and especially to Jesus Christ? If you are like me, knowledge about anything is only important if I can relate it to 'Christ. The central figure of the Bible is Jesus Christ and his revelation of God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. Just like the Sun, Jesus should be the center of our universe. Everything revolves around him. Jesus is the Son of God and he said, "And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me" (Jn. 12:32, MSG) (cf. Jn. 6:44; Jn. 14:6). Jesus in this passage is speaking of his death on the cross. He took our place, we who were spiritually dead, that we might have life, and that more abundantly. (cf. Eph. 2:1; Jn. 10:10) Just as there would be no life on this earth without the Sun, there is no life without the Son, Jesus Christ.

The truth is all of mankind orbits around the Son of life, whether they want to or not. Sinners and saints alike. (Mat. 5:45) Most of mankind is running as hard and fast as they can away from God to escape him. But just like trying to escape the gravitational pull of the Sun, he makes it awfully hard to escape him because he loves them so much.

The difference between the Sun and the Son though is huge. It's impossible to escape the gravitational pull of the Sun, but the Son will let rebellious man escape his rule if they insist. He will do everything in his power to win their hearts but there will come a time when he will give them over to their desires. The apostle Paul gives us a very clear picture of God's witness to mankind and mankind's rebellion, and the consequences that follow in Romans, chapter one.

The other side of the picture is the saint (believer). They believe that "... there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” (Acts 4:12, AMP)

The problem with many believers is they are content to have their lives revolve around the Son of God's love, but they want to keep him at a safe distance. No closer. No farther. They're afraid to wander to far from him because, left to their own devices, they've experienced how messed up their lives can become. The inverse of that is the fear of getting to close to him. What if he asks them to become a missionary to a third-world country? Or, they've read the story in Mark 10 of the rich young ruler running up to Jesus and asking him what he would have to do to inherit eternal life? Jesus told him to do six things and he replied that he had done them all since he was a boy. Jesus then told him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor...". "WHOA!! That's asking a lot. I think I would rather stay here at a safe distance." Satan has multitudes convinced that Jesus will ask them to do something that they wouldn't ever want to do.

The Bible says that in the last days men will be lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:2). What does your orbit around Jesus Christ look like? Is self on the throne of your heart? If you are living for yourself - how's that working out for you? Just like anything that gets to close to the Sun is consumed, so will we if we fall into the Son, "self" will be consumed. It's then, and only then, that we can experience His life in us, and that's an exceedingly abundant life.