Shine As Stars

One of my favorite verses (okay so I have a lot of them, but I do really really like this one) is found in Hebrews 12:1, 2 which says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter or our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  This verse is both a formula and a challenge.

The challenge in this verse is the thought that we are surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses."  In other words, the whole Universe is watching the Great Controversy playing out here on our small planet.  Around us, each and every day, are people who either don't know the love of God, or have an incomplete view or misunderstanding of the love of God.  Our job, as believers, is to share God's love with the world around us.  Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:13 says that, "these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." In 1 John 4:7 says, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."

So why is this such a challenge?  Well, because it is tough to be a witness sometimes.  Our human nature does not always desire the things of God.  Paul says, in Romans 7:18, 19, "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing."  In our sinful nature, it is impossible to be perfect. People will continue to see a distorted view of God in us as long as we are working on our own.  Thankfully, Hebrews 12:1, 2 does not end by telling us that everyone is watching us.  Instead it goes on and tells us the solution.
  
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus."  That's it, so simple and yet everyday we try to do things our own way without Him.  By fixing our eyes on Jesus, it becomes His Spirit working in us.  In that way, all of those witnesses surrounding us will see Jesus in us instead of our human nature with all of it its sinful faults.  "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," II Corinthians 3:18.

Philippians 2:15 encourages us to "become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."  Today, God is calling each of us to shine for Him to the world around us.  We never know who is watching us.  If you say you are a Christian, then live it.  If you are still on the fence, make a decision for Him today.  Time is growing short.  Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming soon!" Revelation 22:12.  Choose today to be a part of those who Jesus will take to live with Him for eternity.
  
Let our prayer be the same that Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.  "Not my will, but yours be done" oh God (Luke 22:42).