“…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 15: 16)
My little granddaughter is going to a Day Care and I was so pleased to discover they are teaching her the same sweet songs that I sang as a small child. The other day I was travelling with the family and sitting in the back seat next to her car seat, when she offered to sing a song for me. I was thrilled to hear the words of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” emerge from this little mouth, accompanied by all the hand actions.
I have always been fascinated by the stars and as I was born in Australia the Southern Cross, in all it’s spectacular beauty could be observed from where I lived, and I too wondered just like the words of that old song “how I wonder what you are”
Ancient peoples were intrigued by the stars and old mariners used them to plot their way across vast expanses of water and of course we have the story in Scripture of that wonderful Star leading the wise mem to find the new born Saviour.
“…Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2)
Stars, and who created them are often mentioned in the Bible;
“And what were it’s footings, or who laid its cornerstone-while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.” (Job 38: 6 – 7)
God reminds Job of who made the stars 
“…He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” (Genesis 1: 16)
Stars and their light led people through the darkness. This is why Paul, when writing to the Philippians, urges them to be like stars shining and showing the true Light of the Lord to lead others through the darkness of a crooked and depraved world.
The same analogy is used in the book of Daniel as he listens to God warning him of what is to come for all mankind;
“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12: 3)
So how do we shine like stars? We have probably heard this statement used when praising someone for what is seen as a worthy action.
He is a shining example of doing it right!
Paul was encouraging the followers of Christ to shine by exhibiting the word of life to others, by being an example of what it means to live Jesus’ words and when others see what a difference that makes they will be drawn to the light they can see shining through those who love the Lord. Another little childhood song I remember, tells us to shine where ever we are, a good reminder to shine the light to others;
in this world of darkness so we will shine
You in your small corner and I in mine
One of the churches I attended many years ago had a beautiful stained, glass window which I loved looking at, while seated in church. It was a depiction of Jesus, holding a lantern in his hand and knocking at a door. It was only just recently, while reading a study on the verse in Revelation 3: 20, that I discovered the history of this much, admired window. It was originally a painting by an English artist, William Holman Hunt and hangs in the Keble College Chapel in Oxford, England and is entitled, The Light Of The World, converting it to a magnificent stained glass window, has brought joy to countless viewers in churches scattered across the world.
and miss out on his loving fellowship. When Paul was telling others the good news in Antioch, the city realised they needed to hear the word of God, so they too could have the same wonderful relationship they could see Paul had with his Saviour.
Sending out words is vastly different as to the way it was when I was young. Handwritten letters were personal methods of communicating and for more official letters, a typewriter was used. Today the quickest way of getting your message across seems to be the most important point of any communication from emailing, texting to Twitter and Facebook. My sister and I played a little experiment this last few weeks to go back to sending a letter to each other. She lives in Australia and I live in Canada and while chatting on the phone to each other we were sharing some favourite recipes with each other. We both decided we would like to have each other’s recipe to try so my sister offered to send me hers by mail and I decided to send mine to her. Just for fun we posted them on the same day and waited to see which country had the best postal service. I received hers in exactly 7 days she is still waiting for mine 12 days later!!!
We tend to forget the incredible power of God’s word and sometimes fall into the error of thinking the Bible is just words written in a book. The Psalmists considered them so important, they wanted to absorb God’s words into their very being, the centre of the human heart;
When we are constantly spending time with the Lord and his word we are blessed by producing fruit which in turn blesses others and sends out his word in a mighty way. Somebody once remarked, people don’t need a sermon to find out what it means to be a Christian, they just need somebody demonstrating what the Lord’s love produces. Paul aptly describes how to do that in his letter to the Galatians;
!!! DISCOURAGEMENT !!!
carefully at our own lives and strive to be one who brings encouragement to those who need it and to be careful in offering unsolicited advice that may discourage others.
Perhaps one of the most amazing stories about mending broken walls, is the recording in the book of Nehemiah of how the Israelites bonded together with the return of the exiled ones and those who had been left behind, to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. It was certainly a team effort with everyone pulling together with a common goal which was the centre of everyone’s activity.
around us. A loss of a job can collapse a family’s ability to survive, also causing a collapse of one’s self confidence. A loss of a dear one can make us feel that life is crumbling around us. Within our church family others may have doubts about their own worthiness and need to have their faith strengthened. Paul writes to the Ephesians urging them to build each other up and to be aware of who needs this help.
of safety around us have cracks in them and need mending. God’s word is the sure foundation we need and again it is Paul that gives us this good advice;
Allergy season is upon us here in North America and those who suffer from allergies are at the mercy of the pollens swirling around them. The results are sneezing, eyes watering and for some, difficulty in breathing. I was watching a television ad for tablets that promised to rid the sufferers of all their terrible symptoms and one vowed that this particular one would relieve those with breathing problems and give them “good breath”. I thought the phrase was incorrect grammar, but it made me think what good breath was. The following Sunday, we sang a beautiful song with ended with these beautiful words for the repeated chorus;
Breathing love! What a gift to be able to use our very breath to spread love to others. We need breath to speak, so when we are breathing the Lord’s love our words will be filled with love not anger, bitterness or hatred but with understanding, love and sympathy.
That beautiful word – overflowing – is often used in Scripture, and often to describe God’s gifts to his loved ones in bountiful crops etc., but the most powerful way it is used, is when the Psalmist’s and other writers use it to somehow capture his love. In Psalm 65, the Psalmist recognises God’s love in his gracious abundance of gifts;
We can do exactly that in our lives when we overflow with God’s love. We can in-turn spread that love to others who may be in desperate need of some joy in their lives, bereft of happiness. Others may need to find peace in a turbulent situation and yet others may need hope when they have given up in despair.
Our family learnt a wonderful lesson in expressing love and understanding in a family celebration on Mother’s Day and we all witnessed this through the actions of a small boy, our five-year, old grandson. While my daughter, his mother, was busy preparing to celebrate Mother’s Day, and getting cards and gifts and a cake ready, suddenly my little grandson said. “But what about Aunty, what are we giving her?” This daughter was unable to have children of her own and as soon as he said these words, my younger daughter realised that these words from a little boy had a great depth of meaning so, out they went for him to buy something special for someone who needed an expression of love and understanding.
Once we belong to Jesus Christ, the Lord can use us as his messengers to distribute his love to others. The writer of Hebrew concludes his letter with a powerful prayer for his readers in which he asks the Lord to bless them and equip them with everything good they need to do God’s will.
Mother’s Day is celebrated in many different countries and usually the second Sunday in May is set aside to honour mothers. For some women this can be a difficult day and especially single mothers with young children, who have nobody in their family able to fuss after them. I was delighted to hear from one of my daughters, that the church she attends, sets aside the Saturday before Mother’s Day, as one totally devoted to helping single mothers in a practical way, but also to make them feel loved and pampered. For example, men in the congregation offer to:
which he attributed to people who spoke about caring for people, but only spoke about it without doing anything about it. James addresses this in his letter to the churches, urging them and of course us, not to offer meaningless words to those in need, but to do something about it!
The secret to be able to achieve practical Christian action is to remain firmly attached to the vine. Jesus assured his disciples and all those who would follow him need to stay firmly rooted in him, then we will be able to be fruitful and bear much fruit for him no matter how old we are.
Both my husband and I grew up in homes that had open fireplaces. My grandmother still had a stove that was heated through a wood fire and I can remember her sitting in front of the opening patiently toasting bread for us with a very long pronged fork, carefully turning the piece of bread from one side to the other until it was just the right shade of brown. Delicious to eat!! Building the fire was a very important part of having a successful source of heat and then keeping that small spark going, fanning it, was essential.
Some of us mistakenly believe God must have overlooked us when he was giving out the gifts, but that is not true, just as each person is unique, so are our gifts and discovering those gifts becomes easier and easier the longer we walk closely with the Holy Spirit. Some of what would be described as small gifts can bring about amazing results when they are used to display God’s love to others.
Probably the best way to discover our gifts is to ask the Lord to show us how he would like to use us. When we realise the gifts come from him and we don’t take the credit, our gifts truly will burst into flame and we will remember where the gifts come from;
God Speaking 