While leaning thoughtfully over the fence that separated our properties, one of our favorite neighbors used to explain to my kids how, “All life finds its source in the sun.” As a highly educated man, with a background in the biological sciences, he would elaborate that animals need vegetation to survive, vegetation needs the sun to survive, and that all life needs a habitable climate to survive. Therefore, we owe our existence to the big bright burning star above that powers our world and everything in it.

Of course on one level he was not wrong at all. The sun is essential to life on earth. It provides warmth, light, and energy, not to mention the fact that its gravitational force holds our entire solar system together. But if our thoughts stop there, the next logical step would be, at a minimum to revere the sun as our sustainer, and more likely to worship the sun as the very source of our existence! Over the millennia, people groups spanning all continents have bowed in worship to the sun as they recognized, often without all the benefits of modern scientific discovery, its life giving qualities.

But as vital as the sun is to our lives, worshipping it as our sustainer falls far short of the mark. The Bible reveals for us a greater truth. It tells us to worship not the sun, but the Son Who is the true Creator and Sustainer of all things in existence including everything in our solar system, galaxy, and the unknown reaches of deepest space.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:16-17

Our sun is incredibly amazing, but its light pales in comparison to Jesus, the Son of God, who is the true light shining into the world, overcoming the darkness, giving life to cold and hardened hearts, and sustaining those who look to Him in faith.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:4-5

So enjoy the sun, and let the warmth of its rays encourage your thankful heart. But remember it is but a gift – a Creation made through the Son, and reserve your worship for the Gift-Giver, the only one who is worthy of all praise and glory and honor!