Pale Blue Dot

Romans 10:5-17

 

 

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

From the book Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

 

Carl Sagan seems to believe that all there is to life is what is here; that there is no after life; no purpose to our lives beyond right now. But the truth of the matter is that all of us are searching for meaning in our lives.

 

We try to find it through relationships; as a spouse or as a parent. We try to find it through work; reaching that next level.

 

 

 

 

We try to find it through possessions; he who has the most toys wins. We try to find it through science and reason; not unlike Carl Sagan. We try to find it through being religious; going to church and being nice.

 

 

 

The Israelites searched for meaning through the Law and their customs. Paul addressed this in today’s passage: “For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation.”

 

Instead, Paul pointed to a simpler way: ^“For salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is what we preach—is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

 

It is true that we live on a pale blue dot that seems pretty insignificant; “a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”.

 

 

 

 

But the living God stepped into His creation in the person of His one and only son so that you and I might know Him and find purpose, not only in this life, but in our life to come. Amen.