People of Light
Shining Like Stars – Part I
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:12-18
Key Verse: Philippians 2:15
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.
The Scripture Reading for today has many rich truths for us as Christ-followers. I want to start with the last phrase of Philippians 2:12:
continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
The New Living Translation helps us to better understand Philippians 2:12:
Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
When you obey the red flashing light that tells you to stop before crossing a road, that is a good fear. In other words, when we fear something enough to be obedient to an instruction that is real and truthful, that is a good fear to have.
When we fear God enough to be obedient to His instructions, that is a good fear. Our obedience is a form of reverence to Him. It shows that we believe Him to be all-knowing as well as all-loving.
For Christ-followers, reverence to Jesus results from our salvation; that is, His work in us. People of Light work hard to let God’s work shine bright to everyone around us!
The second truth for Christ-followers is in Philippians 2:13:
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purposes.
When we want to walk with God and follow His directions, that “want” is a gift of God. If we are sincerely following Jesus as best as we know how, then we can trust our “want-er”.
Most Christ-followers spend a lot of time praying and seeking God’s will in the decisions of their lives. In this process of seeking God’s will, Philippians 2:13 tells us that we should look at what we “want” in that situation.
God does a lot of His work in causing us to “want” what He wants for us! Yes, we must be careful to make sure our “want” is not simply a carnal desire that pleases only ourselves.
As the Apostle James warns us:
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:3)
With this warning in mind, we can examine our “wants” and trust that many times God causes us to have them.
Philippians 2:14 gives us a third truth for People of Light:
Do everything without grumbling or arguing.
We can have and state our opinions, but People of Light do not confrontationally argue about our opinions with others.
When things do not go our way, People of Light do not grumble about it.
People of Light trust that God works all things out for their good and His glory!
Father, I want to be a person of Light, walking in Your light every day. Please grant me the wisdom and strength to trust that Light. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.