You’ve seen a full moon before, right? A full moon can make the landscape shine almost like daytime. As you walk around you can see great distances, and you can see trees and sidewalks and flowers – all in the middle of the night by moonlight!

But did you know that, in a way, there is no such thing as moonlight?

That is right! Because moonlight doesn’t come from the moon because it actually comes from the sun. The light we see on a moonlit night is actually sunlight that bounces off the moon and shines down on the earth. Because the earth and the moon both revolve around the sun, sometimes we see a full moon, sometimes we see a crescent moon, and sometimes we see no moon at all, when it is a “new moon” so close to the sun that it is invisible.

In a way, we are like the moon. Just as the moon has no light of its own, the Bible says that we have no righteousness of our own. Not one of us is good; we are all sinners.

Just as the moon can only shine by reflecting the light of the sun, the only way that we can do good and be good is by, as a Christian, reflecting the goodness of God. We are not good, and no matter how hard we try, we can’t do good that is acceptable to God in His own eyes. But God is good and when we let His Holy Spirit live in us and control us, He can help us make right choices and reflect His goodness.

When we do good with God’s help, we are reflecting the image of God just as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

“Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves” (Genesis 1:26, NIV).

“And we . . . are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV).

I hope you will go to church this week and worship the God of Eternal Life who gave His only begotten Son, to die in our place and pay our sin debt and the plenty of our sin, for all who are willing to believe in the name of Jesus who is Lord and Savior of all.