The song for this week is ‘Stars’ by Slugs and Bugs. You can
listen to it here. We now
listen to a lot of Slugs and Bugs in our house and in the car as Isaac loves
the songs and often as he is playing with toys he will be singing one of their
songs. The really great this about their songs is that they sing scripture, so
the songs become great ways of learning Bible verses. They simply take verses
from the Bible and sing them to a (often!) catchy tune and we’ve found that
they stick in your head for hours.
This song is taken from Philippians 2:14-16 which says:
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 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, as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Those few verses certainly pack a punch and are full with challenges as to how we live our lives as Christians.
No grumbling or arguing
Living with two toddlers I can certainly say this isn’t easy for
them! But if we are honest with ourselves, it’s definitely a challenge to us adults
as well. Since I decided to write a devotion on this song, I have realised just
how much I grumble about things. Some things in life are a real joy and
pleasure to do but others are simply hard work. The nice things are easy to do
with a good attitude, but this verse is telling us that we also need to do the
harder things without grumbling or complaining.
So, how do we combat this? Well, we look to Jesus who for our sake
endured the most agonising death to win our freedom. And he didn’t moan,
complain or grumble along the way. In contrast to what Christ did, the things
we moan about are miniscule. Let’s look to his example!
We also combat it by remembering the purpose for not grumbling or arguing. The purpose is so that we are blameless and pure. It’s a way in which we can be distinct from the world around us and, in so doing, model Jesus to the world. As we show the joy we have through faith in Jesus by not moaning and grumbling we show the difference knowing God makes in our daily life – that our hearts have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
Without fault
Wow, that is a high calling! The world around us is a long way
from the world as God designed it. Our Western culture is trampling on God’s
good and perfect order and design. It is not difficult to stand out for God in
our modern culture, but it is certainly hard and will require sacrifice,
boldness and a love of God’s truth.
To live faultless lives, we need to first know how God designed
and wants us to live which means we need to spend time in God’s word. We then
need to spend hours on our knees asking God to give us the strength to resist
temptation, fight evil desires and live for him. Then we need to get some close
Christian brothers or sisters who we can be open and honest with so that we can
support each other in our walk with Jesus to live a blameless and pure life.
With all that said, we need to remember we are still sinners and will mess up. And when we do, we need to pick ourselves up, ask God for forgiveness and continue to seek to follow God. A phrase a pastor I know loves is, ‘Never stop restarting’. When we mess up and sin the devil loves to pile on the guilt and stop us from coming to God but the very thing we need to do is come straight back to God, ask for forgiveness and for the strength to resist next time.
Shine like stars
What is the purpose of all of this? To show Jesus to the world around us. Have you ever been out on a clear night and looked up into the sky and been mesmerised but all the stars? It’s amazing, isn’t it, how those little lights are so bright against the black background. That is what we should be like in this world. In a world that is dark and full of evil, as followers of Christ we are to be like bright shining stars bringing the light of Jesus into the darkness. The Christians who have the biggest evangelistic impact are the ones who not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk. Often before we can have the opportunity to speak the gospel to people, we need to have earnt the right by living out the gospel first.
Prayer for today
Heavenly Father,
We come to you today
and ask that you will renew our joy found through faith in you. We thank you
for Jesus, that He willingly went to the cross for us whilst we were still
sinners. May the joy of knowing you and the hope we have be expressed in our
daily lives. We ask that through the power of your Spirit at work is us you
will strengthen us to resist the temptations and desires of this world, to
resist the desire to argue or grumble and instead to live a pure and blameless
life that displays you to the world.
We pray all this so
that you may be glorified through us. Thank you that we can be called children
of God.
We pray all this in
Jesus’ name,
Amen
Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash
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