Want to be a star?

For the past two days I've been studying the second chapter of Philippians. We talked about it at our small group last night and in our staff Bible study an hour ago.

Today we spent most of our time with the following verses:

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 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 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. (Phil. 2:14,15)

Paul urges his readers to "shine like stars."

To the ancients the stars were a constant presence in the night sky. On a clear night they stood beneath a thick black cloak dotted with billions of stars. We don't see the stars in the same way they did before the days of electricity and ground-lighting. The light of countless stars can be hidden from our view with the illumination of a single 40-watt light bulb.

To the ancients the stars were also an essential navigational aid . . . or, as my friend Barton pointed out today . . . a fixed point of reference.

Paul wants us to know that we are supposed to be blameless and pure. We are supposed to be bright stars in a dark night sky. We are supposed to be shiny. We are supposed to be fixed points of reference helping people to find their way to--or back to--God.