“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, NIV)
Golf’s stars will come out this week at Hazeltine Golf Club for the latest edition of the Ryder Cup matches. It’s not precisely a “for king and country” event, but the “Oles!” and “USAs!” will thunder across the fairways and energize the 24 players who have earned by points or garnered by selection a spot on their respective teams.
Jesus is the righteousness that shines through us. He is the wisdom that comes from our heart through our lips.In our celebrity-happy culture, we have gladly taken up the non-literal use of “stars” and applied it to anyone who, shall we say, rises above the rest to get our attention. If you happen to be a golf fan, those stars, those risers-above, include the likes of world number one players Jason Day and Lydia Ko, who ironically hail from down under. So perhaps it should not be unusual for us to look through the pages of Scripture and find that men and women of God can be made to “shine like stars.”
Because the landscape of spiritual discussion can sometimes turn to the mystical, we need to be careful to maintain the similes that are used in Daniel and also in Philippians 2. It is not that we will become stars in the literal sense (nor shining angels, for that matter!).
Maybe we can be helped in this understanding by reminding ourselves of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.” There is a metaphor in this, too, for we know that “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Not only does God’s creation leave people without excuse in recognizing God, it has led many to come to faith in him.
A number of years ago, Links Fellowship leader Tim Philpot delivered a message when he was president of CBMC International. In that message, Tim spoke of a French restaurant owner who described his coming to Christ in this way: “I was walking in the woods and the connection between the Creator and Jesus Christ all made sense to me.” There was much prayer by his wife and his friend ahead of this realization, but the man had found God in the midst of his creation.
You and I are also God’s creation. Indeed, we are “God’s workmanship, created for good works in Christ” (Ephesians 2:10). Among those good works are the demonstration of wisdom and the leading of others to righteousness. When we do this, we shine like stars and God becomes visible in us.
Let us not leave off, though, without a recognition of how this is even possible. We might come to this by answering a simple question: Who is Christ in you? And we can turn to Revelation 22:16, where Jesus said, “I am…the bright Morning Star.”
Jesus is the righteousness that shines through us. He is the wisdom that comes from our heart through our lips. Our shininess is all his.
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Jeff Hopper
September 27, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.