Shine Like Stars

”So that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.” Philippians 2:15 NIV

Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I feel so invisible. Insignificant. I know these are all lies from the enemy, but it doesn’t change the fact that sometimes I just feel like a nobody.

So what if I can sing? A billion people can do that.

So what if I sit down in a chair and try to write a book? It probably won’t be any good.

So what if I try to help that person out? It won’t do anything to change the world.

So what? So what? SO WHAT? The questions spin in my head sometimes like a broken record, but instead of just a looping scratch, it’s this voice chanting, “not enough, not enough, not enough.”

I’ve gotten way better at fighting back those lies—usually in the form of writing a new song about it that pulls from some of my favorite Scripture—but sometimes they still feel like boulders on my back.

Maybe you feel that way, too. So, to the ones who feel small, tilt your head back and stare up at the night sky.

Sometimes it’s foggy and you can’t see a thing. Sometimes life is foggy and you can’t see things clearly the way they actually are. The lies in your brain are those foggy clouds. Be patient. Wait for them to clear…Now, look again once they move along. Start counting the stars. It’s pretty impossible right? I mean, it’d be like counting a billion tiny grains of salt. There’s a ton of stars up there, but do we look at them and say, “Man, I wish there were fewer of them! I wish we only saw the best and brightest ones!”

Uh, that would be a no. No one says that. Why? Because one of the most beautiful things about stars is there are so many of them. They’re all small—by themselves they’re just tiny little pinpricks of light poking a hole in the dark—but when they come together? It transforms into something beautiful.

We’re not supposed to be the brightest light in the sky. That’s the Son after all (and yes, I spelled that intentionally). But we are still called to shine. We’re not alone in this. If every single Christian does their part to poke a hole in the dark, together, we can brighten up the night.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16 NIV