What star is this?

A star alerted three astronomers of the birth of a king (Matthew 2). It was spectacular enough that they began a journey to Jerusalem (and eventually Bethlehem) to seek out a newborn king. After stopping where they expected to find the king, in a palace,  they instead found the star-told king in a simple house with a small child in the small town of Bethlehem. A star lead them to the king.

What kind of star are you?

Are you a protostar? A protostar is a star that is just getting it’s beginnings wrapped in a cloudy nebula.  You may have just learned about Jesus and perhaps you like what you know so far but the picture isn’t altogether clear yet.  You are still gathering stories and testimonies and knowledge about Jesus like a protostar gathers dust and gases before it begins to shine like a star.  A protostar might ask someone to learn along with them to share their journey but the light they shine does not lead yet.

Hopefully you are not like a black hole which represents the death of a star in an event that creates such a gravity field that even light cannot escape from it.  A black hole only takes in (light, matter, everything), it doesn’t give out light.  A black hole would not guide wisemen, it would hide any path from them.  A picture of sin and selfishness, a black hole takes but doesn’t give, it destroys and does not share.

A pulsar is a rapidly spinning, dying star that sends out radio waves at regular intervals.  These radio waves once tricked scientists into thinking that the radio waves were from extra-terrestrial intelligent life.  A pulsar acts as if it is alive when, in fact, it is rapidly dying.  A star that acts like it is alive and doing the right thing will not lead anyone to the king.  It’s actions will lead people only to discover that the power behind their life is the desire to hide the truth from others.  Acting good is different from God making you good so that you can be a guide.

We owe a lot to one star in particular.  It is our star, the sun.  Technically some scientists call it a medium sized, G-class star but I call it a source of warmth, light and life.  When we talk about God’s care for us in our truth statement called the creed we say “God continues to take care of us” and “God richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.”  A star like our sun would be the kind of light that would lead people to the king, to Jesus.  When we care for others when no one else does, when we ask how someone is doing and take the time to listen to the answer, we shine like stars (Philippians 2:15).  When our source of light, Jesus Christ, shines through us in acceptance and forgiveness, then others can be guided to the light-giver and see what kind of star they will become through Him.