Stars

“For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among who you shine like stars in the world.” (Philippians 2:13-15 CSB)

Most people in the United States believe that a star is either a little point of light in the sky or someone who lives in Hollywood. The superficiality of our American culture believes that someone who can pretend to be someone they are not, who can tweak imaginations with facial expressions, voice inflections, and carefully scripted and edited films are stars. Indeed, these folks have spent years working on and developing their skills in acting (well, some of them at least), so this is not to denigrate them necessarily. For the huge majority to set those parameters in defining the “stars” of our culture, however, is a testimony to how far our culture has deviated from the intent of the founding fathers.

The true “stars” of our culture are those who are the children of God who stand for the causes of the kingdom. The real stars are those who are willing to cut across the grain of current cultural norms and mores and stand for the truth that is represented in the Bible. Daring to be different, in this sense, is what makes them “stars” in our culture.

We must not minimize the complexity and difficulty of this. There are clear costs involved. If you have not noticed, a star in the sky is one point of light, pretty much isolated for other stars. Taking a stand in our culture can result in isolation and even polarization, and that can create hurt in some folks’ hearts. They therefore need strength to be able to stand, and God is the One who supplies it. He is the One who is in us, enabling us to will and to act according to His purposes.

Taking a stand like this can create a touch of cynicism in us at times, and that is part of the reason Paul says that we should do everything without grumbling or complaining. It would be all too easy to complain and do nothing, but there is a great cost to that in terms of kingdom advance. A testimony to the world is way too easy to lose. So, it is important on a daily basis to practice humility and faith, and to allow God to carry out His daily transformation of us, shaping us further and further into the image of Christ.

Father, We humble ourselves before You this day and each day, and we ask that You continually use us to shine forth Your light, so that our world may come to know You. Amen.