Daily Devotionals

Focus on Shining Like Stars

Posted in Salvation

Scripture: “Do all things without murmuring and arguing so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars of the world.” – Philippians 2:14-15

 

In our Solid Rock Adult Sunday School class, we studied Paul’s letters. Paul addresses the various issues that were dividing the early churches. In that time, the early Christians were the radicals defying the tradition of their culture. Feeling their way along the path, early churches had disagreements about what defined a Christian. 

 

Think about what a new concept it was for Jews to have believed all their life that their obedience to the Law was of utmost importance; then, they began understanding salvation actually came through faith. All of a sudden, it was not only okay to associate with Gentiles and Greeks, but also it was an expectation that you eat with them. Even women could participate fully in the church. 

 

Well, all those changes in the culture caused a few good arguments, with both sides positive they were right. Not only was there murmuring, but also probably some loud shouting and name-calling. Paul, from prison, wrote compelling letters to encourage people in the church to get along so they could focus on spreading the Good News. 

 

I think that, as humans, we have not changed too much from the days of the early church. We still spend time arguing about policy matters. Issues that are important for us to decide take time and energy that we could spend on helping others. Should we require masks indoors? Should we require vaccinations? Ultimately, those things will fall into place when we get our focus back to the essentials. Remember that we should be shining like stars in the night. 

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me keep my focus on You and Your words. Calm our murmurs and disagreements, so we can keep spreading the light. Amen.

 

Submitted by Janet Katz