My Birthday and Shiny Stars

What a great day to be alive! I'm quietly celebrating my 12th ANNUAL 29th Birthday today. After all, if Lucille Ball could be perpetually 29 years old and a "natural" red head, why can't I? ha ha ha

I awoke this morning with the phrase "shine like the stars" stuck in my brain. I had been mulling it over in my sleep for some time apparently. So when I got up, I looked it up in the Bible (I remembered reading it there before). I came across 3 references to the phrase in Daniel chapter 12, Matthew chapter 13, and in Philippians 2.


The first reference is in the context of a vision which came to Daniel. It talks about the end of days
when "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)

The second comes from the context of Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds to his close friends. It also speaks of the end of the age when the world is finally sorted and "the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matthew 13:43)

The final reference comes from Paul's letter to the people at Philippi where he admonishes them to "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..." (Phil. 2:14-16)

I want to shine, to hold out the word of life to others. Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 3-4 that we are not like Moses whose face became radiant after meeting with God, but whose radiance eventually faded. Ours is a radiance which increases more and more.

"We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

John wrote that "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." I keep thinking of that story of Moses from Exodus 34.

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him." But Moses called to them and met with all of them and told them what God had said.

"When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord."

Can you imagine? If the glory that came from Moses' face-to-face encounters with God literally made his face so brilliant that people could not look at him, can you imagine what our countenances would be since we have been given a covenant relationship with God which is eternal?

Paul writes: "Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at Moses' face because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!"

And we get to do this: Hold out the word of life to others! YAY! Again, I find myself praying: "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer." As we participate with God, we begin to shine like the stars in the universe and no amount of darkness can extinguish or block its light forever. Woo hoo!