Shine Like a Star
by Guest Author Mike Dellosso
Did you ever go outside on a cloudless evening in an area devoid of light pollution and look up at the night sky? Sometimes, if you catch it just right and if everything is just so, it looks like God sprinkled the heavens with diamonds. It’s beautiful, majestic, glorious. And the darker the backdrop, the brighter the stars shine.
This morning my reading took me to Philippians 2 where we Christians are called stars. Paul says we shine like stars in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And in the midst of our own suffering. That’s a heavy calling.
Our generation is defined by its crookedness and perversity. It’s a dark time we live in. And suffering seems to be inescapable. But stars we are, whether we feel like shining or not. Somewhere, someone is going outside, tilting his head back, and gazing at the heavens, hoping to see something of beauty despite all the darkness. My question for myself is: Will he see me shining brightly against the darkness that surrounds me?
Yikes. Tough question. I hope he will. I hope in the midst of this degenerate world and in the midst of my own trials I can still maintain some light. I hope I can still be a star, shining in the heavens. I may not be the brightest star, but I can still shine, I can still make some kind of difference.
Why? Well, for starters, so I can hold forth the words of life. Bright stars get attention. People notice, they watch. And the darker the circumstances the brighter the star shines and the more people pay attention. Second, so one day I can look back on all this junk I’m going through and living with and say, as Paul says, that my running and laboring and sweating and bleeding were not for nothing. Not in vain.
Again, it’s a high calling to shine like a star. It’s not easy. But with God working in me, it is doable.
