There’s a song I’ve enjoyed for a while now.  It goes something like, “Gotta shine like stars in the universe, Be a different kind of crazy, a different shade of crazy*.”  It’s based on Philippians 2:15: “That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world.”

Or perhaps the songwriter had been reading Daniel: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (12:3).  Then I could quote Ephesians, “For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light” (5:8).  I love that – we are light!

Jesus takes it a step further in Matthew 5: “In the same way [that no one hides a candle under a dish and a city high on a hillside can’t be hidden], let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (v.16).  It appears that shining our light isn’t just an optional add-on to our faith; it’s both a command and an inevitability.

In our society today, we’ve been more or less convinced to keep our light under wraps.  Not necessarily our faith; I’ve been consistently pleasantly surprised at how people who haven’t met Christ yet accept my faith (usually something akin to, “yep, that works for you” without any antagonism).  It’s our light that gets put under a bushel, figuratively speaking.  The bushel basket might have cracks through which we can control how much of our light shines out to the world, but we certainly aren’t shining as brightly as we could.

There are a few reasons why we don’t shine brightly, despite the fact that we are children of light (Ephesians 5:8).  First, we’re afraid of being seen; if we’re going to fail or be ashamed, we’d rather do it in private!  Second, we’re afraid that letting ourselves shine will create a stir – wanted or unwanted.  That’s valid; light dispelling darkness usually is pretty noticeable.  Third – and this is where many of us fall flat, even when we know who we are in Christ – we’re afraid that we will outshine the others around us.  That’s scary because it means we’ll stand out and also because we don’t want to put down the people around us.

I love meeting up with highly creative people.  They have such amazing ideas.  And I don’t have to worry that they’ll get offended or insecure about themselves and their abilities.  Creativity has a way of boosting the confidence and creativity of everyone, not just the creative person who initiated the spirit of the creative in the room.

But that’s what I’m talking about in terms of letting our light shine – we need to be secure enough in Who Christ is within us – that He really is our light (John 8:12) – that we are willing to possibly outshine those around us.  Mediocrity happens when no one wants to raise the bar beyond the least common denominator.  If we shine only as brightly as our least-spiritual friend or our least-creative (more likely, most-insecure) counterpart, we will lead mediocre lives only letting a little bit of light through the cracks in our bushel basket.

Let the light inside of you shine, and shine brightly!  Will it be noticed?  Yes!  Will you stand out?  Yes!  (Like the stars standing out against the dark of the sky!)  But we can’t afford to allow ourselves the mediocracy of not shining brightly.  God has a good plan for each one of our lives, and it can only be fully lived when we shine, like Jesus said, like a city on a hilltop (Matthew 5:15).

LZ7, “Shades” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1qAIon2kLU