lassoing

Lassoing the Moon, by Randall D. Kittle

In the much-loved movie classic It’s A Wonderful Life, the hero of the movie, George, makes a famous proposition while romancing Mary (a graduating high school senior who will later become his wife). As they walk back from the graduation dance, they pause to look at the beautiful full moon that lights up the sky above them. As they bask in this picturesque moment, George suddenly gets idealistically romantic and asks, “You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.” Shocked by his unusual offer, Mary asks him what good that would be. Then George, still caught up in his romantic daydream, tells Mary she could swallow it, and it would dissolve allowing the moonbeams to shoot out her fingers and toes and the end of her hair (a rather strange picture, to say the least).

Yet, this is an excellent representation of our calling as believers to behold God’s glory and then to reveal it to others! This begins when we realize that God wants us to behold His glory … to lay hold of Him. Listen to the heart of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” We have been given so much: the forgiveness of our sins, a new beginning, eternal life, the freedom of the Spirit, spiritual gifts, and more. Yet, we have not fully apprehended all we can — intimacy with the Living God of the Universe. We have much … still there is so much more! For this and toward this we too must press.

Laying hold of the Living God and seeing His glory can seem as impossible as lassoing the moon. The difference is that God created us for relationship with Him and He desires to be “captured” by us. In fact, in Jeremiah 29:13–14 the Lord promises He can be found by us. “‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord.” So truly, you and I can “lasso the moon” — lay hold of the Living God … beholding His awesome glory and have His glorious presence reside within us.

To do this we must press beyond the commonplace existence so many around us are willing to settle for, and have lives fixed and focused upon the Lord. When all of our times of pursuing Him — our quiet times alone with God, our time in prayer, our times of corporate worship — are filled with zeal, abandonment, and longing to “see His face,” He will answer the cry of our hearts and we will behold our glorious God.

As His glorious presence fills our lives, we will not be able to contain it. It will not only reside within us. It will radiate out from us! That, too, is God’s plan. His desire is for every aspect of our lives to shine forth with His glory. How does that happen? “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). As the glorious presence of God pervades every aspect of our lives, it will produce good works through us that will return the glory to whom it rightfully belongs — our glorious God. If we will lay hold of God and then yield to Him working through our lives, the glory of God will literally pour forth from our hands and feet — displaying His glorious presence to the lost and illuminating this world with His glorious light.

Let us zealously press forward to lay hold of the One who has laid hold of us, but let us also allow His glorious presence to flow through our lives by shining forth in this dark world with God-glorifying good works that bring His light, love, and life to a dark and dying world.