Shining like the stars

When it gets dark so early at this time of year, we enjoy lights and candles in all shapes and sizes. We light candles during Advent; the closer we get to Christmas, the more candles burn. Symbolically, it gets brighter and brighter. There are so many stars and Christmas motifs in the form of light!

The light points to Jesus, and I find it fascinating that we shouldn’t just interpret this symbolically! In my last blog, I quoted from the book “Imagine the God of Heaven” by John Burke, in which people with near-death experiences talk about their time in heaven. They not only rave about the love, but also about the radiant light that emanates from Jesus. The author has compiled statistics on the prevalence of certain elements in the near-death experiences studied. 65% of these people experienced a light that they also perceived as love – no matter what background, country, culture or faith the people came from. Many of them perceived a person radiating light and in some cases only understood later that they had seen Jesus.

Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have a life filled with light and will never live in the dark.” John 8:12

Jesus calls himself the light of the world. And we are drawn to his light – we want life filled with light. In contrast to darkness, light is so good for us. Light is a familiar symbol of purity and truth, darkness stands for deceit, falsehood and sin. If we follow Jesus, we too will have the light.

We can also hide or dampen our light by living far from Jesus despite our faith, by not listening to him, by not pointing to him, by valuing people more than Jesus, by not standing up for the things that Jesus puts on our hearts and by ignoring the needs of others.

Faith in Jesus should be lived, not just a one-time act of moving from darkness to light. When we walk with Jesus, we will bring the mistakes we have made to him. We repent or turn around, that is, we see that it was not good. Jesus forgives us when we come to him! It is a conversation with Jesus and a constant forgiveness on his part. That way we are always pure and bright. How good it feels to have given up mistakes or wrong beliefs and to be given the chance to do better next time! When we are pure again, we shine beautifully! This is how we show people what Jesus is like!

Jesus is the light of the world because he vividly shows us what God is like and how God illuminates our darkness. We can do what Jesus did and in this way be lights in this world. His heavenly light and therefore also our light should not remain hidden, but shine!

There are many references to the divine light in the Bible – including stars. The star in the Christmas story, for example, is the oldest symbol of the coming of Jesus Christ. The star of Bethlehem practically becomes the servant of the divine child so that he can be found. We too can help people find Jesus!

Let us shine like the star of Bethlehem in service for God, for his praise and for the benefit of mankind!

Then you will be blameless and innocent. You will be God’s children without any faults among people who are crooked and corrupt. You will shine like stars among them in the world. Philippians 2:15

This verse could put us under pressure, but it shouldn’t! We are to grow into something that we do not yet fully possess. We don’t have to be perfect (we can’t), but have the desire to grow because we love Jesus.

We are meant to be like stars, shining children of light! Jesus leads us with his light and we follow with our light which shines all the brighter the closer we trustingly stay with Jesus.

With these thoughts, I wish you a joyful, light-filled Advent and Christmas season and a good start in 2024!

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

The next blog post will come to you in mid-January. Best wishes, Angie