Center of the Universe – Philippians 1:1-2

Philippians 1:1-2

In astronomy we learn that for thousands of years before Copernicus, people thought that the moon, the sun, the planets, and the stars revolved around the earth. This was the Ptolemaic system. Humans believed that they were the center of the solar system.

It was a good system, much better than most of the people of our day imagine. It could foretell the hours of sunrise and sunset. It could chart the alteration of the heavens.

But it was wrong. Moreover, because the sun is the center of our solar system and not the earth, as Ptolemy imagined, it was inevitable that the Ptolemaic system would have defects.

We too live within a spiritual solar system that is as fixed as the one that fills our heavens.; Many people today, perhaps even you, imagine that they are the center of the system.

But this human-centered system has defects, just as the Ptolemaic system of astronomy had defects. In the first place, it is not quite accurate. The system of the natural man does not allow for progress. Human beings are limited, and any system that makes humans the center of life is limited also.

What is the solution for our defects? The Apostle Paul in these two brief verses outlines for us the infinite center of our spiritual lives, —One without defect.