Here in the north of England the summer night skies are brilliant. Stars shine like diamonds on black velvet. It is possible to identify constellations; the Big Dipper, Orion’s Belt, Ursus the Bear, and others familiar from childhood stories and imaginations of long ago.

Stars are still present in the day sky though they are not visible. The sun fills the sky with light and the brighter it shines, the less we see those stars that are, nevertheless, there.

At night as we see the stars shine it is difficult to see anything close at hand. By day, everything close at hand is revealed and it is difficult to see the stars. This contrasting metaphor is used in scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 says, ‘You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness’. As followers of Christ we have chosen to live in the light and to see everything close at hand. Paul in this passage goes on to say in verse 6, ‘So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.’

Because we are children of the day or of the light, we are willing to wake up and allow our thoughts and behaviours to be seen. We must also be willing to demonstrate ‘self-control’. Or, as it says in the Greek, to have ‘authority over the self’. This means we take authority over our thoughts and behaviours -- we are willing to take authority over our emotions and become aware of our contributions into the lives of others, and to assess whether those contributions are for good or for harm.

It says further in 1 Thessalonians 5:7 ‘For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunk are drunk in the night’. The children of the dark or of the night are not aware they are asleep to their thoughts and desires, to their emotions and their contributions into the lives of others. That is why many of the contributions these people make are very hurtful emotionally, physically or spiritually.

Light reveals what is around us and allows us to see both those things we are looking for and those things that we aren’t looking for. Light shines into corners and reveals everything. Darkness hides those things we don’t want to see and makes it impossible to see the things we need to see.

Revelation 22:16 describes Jesus as ‘the bright and morning star’. He is described as a star that shines in the morning, or the day sky. He shines in a sky where stars are not in evidence.

Jesus is light. He is truth. He is the bright and shining morning star. He calls us to follow His example and be children of the day -- to be stars of the day sky. We are described as stars having differing glory. (1 Corinthians 15:41, 2 Peter 1:19)

Stars that shine in the night call us to look at them -- to see their splendour -- to see their ability to shine -- to call them by name and to know them. Stars at night do not shed light into dark corners but call attention to themselves.

Jesus is a star that shines in the day and He calls us to also be stars that aren’t necessarily seen, yet continue to shine -- stars that may not be known, yet still shine. He calls us to be stars that have no problem with the sun being the great source of light, yet still shine. Stars of the day make no noise, they call no attention to themselves, yet still they shine.

The stars of the day sky shine when they can’t be seen and they allow attention to go to the sun, to the great source of light, to the great source of energy. Are you willing to shine though you can’t be identified and may not be noticed? Are you willing to allow attention to go to the great ‘Son’, the source of true light, the giver of gifts, skills and abilities and the centre of all truth and love? Are you happy to be a star of the day sky, a child of the light, a testimony to His greater light?