Shining for Jesus
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” Philippians 2:14-15
Now that I live in the city, one of the biggest things I miss is being able to walk outside and see a sky full of bright stars on a clear night. In the city you miss out on the brilliance of the stars because you are constantly surrounded by other sources of light. Streetlights, shop lights, car lights, building lights, etc. All of them are competing for the same space and in the “noise” of all the artificial light, the stars get lost.
We live in a busy world and are surrounded by many things competing for the same space in our hearts. With so many competing voices (school, sports, family, friends, internet, etc.), it’s hard to not get lost in the shuffle. The problem with these competing voices is that they distract us from the brilliance and simplicity of the life God intended for us. When we lose sight of the goodness of God, we start complaining about the difficulty and it hinders our spiritual growth.
In this verse, Paul is calling the “children of God” to “shine like stars in the universe.” But, you might be asking, “How do I do that?”
Simply put, you ignore the competing voices and look to the one who created the stars.
God has called His children to be blameless and pure in a crooked generation. Simply put, Christians are called to be different and to stand out from the world around them. By being shining stars in a broken world, Christians point to the God who created everything. How is your life shining for Jesus?