Day 29

“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 as you hold out the word of life…”   — PHILIPPIANS 2:14-16

God’s commands and promises are interdependent. He promises ‘love’ as a fruit of His presence in our lives, yet He also commands love. He promises the peace of God, yet also commands that we, “Do not be anxious about anything…” (Philippians 4:6). The basis on which we experience God’s promises is that we obey His commands, for as a general rule in Scripture, every act of God in our lives is precipitated by an act of obedience on our part. We obey what God says, and He supplies the resource. That is the relationship between what we do and what God does. 

However, it is not enough to think in terms of our personal life, growth, and benefit from living in union with Christ. Paul has instructed the Philippian Christians to “work out your salvation…. For it is God who works in you….”  Christ’s work in us must precede and make possible His work through us. However, the flow of His presence in us to others can be blocked if we do not act in obedience, which then releases His presence in us to enrich other people. In the next verse, Paul talks about being in a ‘depraved generation’, not hidden securely away, but ‘shining like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life’. Stars have less meaning to us than they did in Paul’s day. To us, they display beautifully in the night sky, causing us to speculate about the vastness of the universe and our own physical insignificance, but as Paul travelled the Mediterranean Sea, they were the means of navigation, and finding the way home.

This is the significance of us shining like stars. We are not here to give a sound and light display to our neighbours, but by the security of our lives, give them a compass to find their way home. Christ’s love for us, His love in us, His love through us, will speak to others, and be a means of showing Himself. Let’s not complain about the darkness of the night, or the depravity of our generation – yes, as Paul says, this is the context in which we function – but let’s live in such a relationship with Christ that His light will be evident in us. “I am the light of the world”, said Jesus in John 8, but He qualified it, “as long as I am in the world”.  What happens after He left this world as a human being? “You are the light of the world”, He said in Matthew 5. Our light is His light, which He is in us, and this light enables us to become the stars in the dark cold night that guide others home.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for living in me, and shining your light into my heart, and then through my life.  Help me be one of the stars that show people the way home.

TO REFLECT UPON: Am I exhibiting the light of Christ within me by demonstrating His love and goodness to others?