Shining Like Stars

One of the great things about getting away from it all and camping out in the “middle of nowhere” is the brilliance of the night sky. Have you ever been somewhere far removed from the polluting lights of the city and civilization where night is really night? A place where it gets so dark at night that the sky on a clear night is a spectacular show of stars & planets, brilliantly shining and twinkling? I miss those opportunities as I’ve spent so much of my time in urban and suburban sprawl where the cityscape is so lit up that even on a clear night with no moon, seeing all but the brightest of stars is a tremendous challenge. I can’t wait till I can take my sons camping somewhere far removed from city lights and let them discover just how awesome God’s created sky is.


Philippians 2:14-16a (NIV) Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.


It is easy for the night sky to be brilliant in the wilderness where it has no other light to compete with. Similarly, it is easy for us to live blameless and pure on a retreat or in the comfort of our churches, but God isn’t calling us to that easy brilliance though. In the verses Paul is exhorting the Philippians to be brilliant in the midst of the corrupt world and God is calling us to be the same today. Like a night sky in an urban area full of light pollution, God wants us to live out our faith IN THE WORLD, so we can out shine the corrupt and sinful world. Just as a dim star is hardly visible in a city sky, a dim life inspires no one to follow suit. Therefore, we need to rise each day and challenge ourselves as those confident that we are saved by grace through faith to SHINE LIKE STARS, becoming a beacon that outshines the worldly light and beckons others to follow Jesus. And unlike increasing the wattage of your home lights, we can increase the wattage of our lives with the full knowledge that the electric bill has already been paid in advance and in full, by Jesus the Messiah with his death upon the Cross.