Shine

We moved to Carlinville almost 9 years ago now.  I can’t believe how fast those 9 years have gone by.  There was a lot of adjusting to do moving from the suburbs of Chicago to 7 acres outside of Carlinville.  I made the adjustment from having 4 malls within 20 minutes of my house to one Wal-Mart 4 miles away.  I made the adjustment from being able to have just about any type of food – Mexican, Chinese, and Thai,  whatever - delivered to my door in less than an hour to driving into town for hamburgers.  I made the adjustment from shopping at huge bookstores to ordering from Amazon. All those things were really no big deal.  But the one thing that still stops me in my tracks is walking out my front door late at night and looking up at the sky.  To see the heavens filled with the brilliance of millions of stars never ceases to overwhelm me.  The suburbs of Chicago are filled with artificial light that diminishes the brilliance of the night sky, but now I am far from neon signs and streetlights.  That is what I want to talk with you about.  Stars that shine brightly in the night. 

Do you remember the star in the Christmas story? It has the leading role. It was the star that led the wise men to Jesus.  This is where the story gets really exciting for me.  Here are these Magi that some say are astrologers, some say philosophers, but for me that is not important. What is important is that they were Gentiles who were outside the religious Jewish community.  Not part of the “chosen” so what would draw them?  What would cause them to leave family, friends, and homes and set out on a two-year journey?  A STAR?!  They saw an extraordinary star.  A star like none they had ever seen before.

These were men who made stars their business.  These men came from a land where the people actually worshipped the stars but there was something different about this star that compelled them to follow and see where it would lead and to whom it bring them.  Would it lead them to a King?  You might say this was a heavenly birth announcement.  How many of you have received a birth announcement in the mail?  Proud parents telling friends and family of the arrival of their much anticipated child.  God sent the world the birth announcement of His Son by placing a star in the sky for all to see.  The star was God’s way of saying to everyone that His Son had arrived among us. 

The one star that the wise men followed to find Jesus was just the beginning.  I find myself living in a world that is filled with artificial lights that try to obscure the true light.  In our world we have sports stars, actors, and actresses who are stars.  We have singers and musicians all sending out a light that causes the true stars to seem to fade.  Where are the extraordinary stars that cause people to stop and think, “That star is different.  I have to find out where that star might lead me.”

We are called to be stars that shine in the darkness of our world and lead the lost to Jesus. 

So this Christmas I ask myself if I am consumed with the zeal of the Lord so that my heart burns within me?  Does my life give out the light of God’s love that causes men and women to wonder what is different about my life?

Daniel 12:3

And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

My prayer for each one of us is that the Holy Spirit will cleanse us from the mundane, fill us with fresh oil, and set us on fire to tell the greatest love story ever known to man.  

This Christmas I pray we SHINE!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCN893hzueQ