How God Made His Stars to Shine

It’s a well-known fact that light from stars can take tens, hundreds, and even thousands of years to reach Earth, depending on how far away the star is from Earth. By the time we earthlings see the light of a star, that star may be long dead. The light we see comes to us as a message from the distant past.

In their book, Tenth Stone, Bodie and Brock Thoene (p. 223) use this truth as a metaphor:

To someone yet unborn you are a distant star. What good you do now may shine forth, yet it may not be seen or received by anyone during your lifetime. But then your act of kindness will someday change the destiny of someone far in the future.

Just think, our actions today could possibly affect the lives of people who are not yet born, people who may not be born for decades or even centuries. We can see the proof of this through the work of people who lived before us. I doubt Peter, Paul, or James ever imagined that someone two thousand years in the future would be drinking coffee in front a fireplace while studying the words they wrote, figuring out how to apply those words to contemporary life and share Jesus’ story with people who have not yet heard it.

I wonder how many descendants of those who hid in the ten Boom house and clock shop are living for Jesus today, telling their families the story of their ancestors’ harrowing escape.

I wonder if my great-grandmother had any idea when she began collecting cards and letters that her passion would inspire me to value communication through carefully crafted written words.

We cannot know how our current actions will be perceived in the future—or if anyone will remember them at all. For this reason, considering the future or wondering about our influence on it is beyond the scope of our calling. It’s not our place to determine whether a planet full of people will someday see our shine. That knowledge is God’s.

Our tasks are whatever kind things our hands find to do. (See Ecclesiastes 9:10.) These present opportunities must be the drive of our days. For these are the actions God can and will use to mold future lives in ways we cannot now see.

 

Work Cited

Thoene, Bodie and Brock. Tenth Stone. Tyndale House, 2009.

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Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash