"There's one thing you need to remember," Deon said, looking into my eyes with the eyes of a father: "You're not a star."
Of course I knew that. I had believed so little of myself for so long, the idea of being a star was something I despised. It was never something I wanted. Instead, I wanted to walk through life with my head down, belittling myself in an attempt to resist pride and be humble. As we sat outside on a beautiful October morning, Papa Deon looked at the pain and lack of secuirity in my eyes, he saw something more in me than I saw in myself. He saw the new creature, the regenerated, the justified. He saw me with the eyes of a father, and he saw me with the eyes of the Father.
"You're not a star."
We silently looked at each other for a moment. In his eyes I could see that he was about to share something he wanted me to listen to carefully.
"You're a Galaxy."
Tears began welling up in my eyes as the truth started to settle in.
"Everybody wants to be a star. Don't be a star. Just as Abraham's decedents are as numerous as the stars, God also sees in you a potential galaxy."
That's the calling I'm to live by. That's what God desires for me. It's what he sees in me. To be a galaxy.
Although I've long known what Christ has done to forgive my sin, I never let the truth of what he's done for my identity break me. So I continued to look for value in other things – in my ability to succeed, in the social status I attained, and in the height of other people's opinions of me. In so doing, worthlessness would come knocking, pushing it's way in, and tearing apart the structure of value I created for myself in my mind.
But the truth is this –
My worth isn't found in man. My worth was purchased by Christ.
When he took on the cross, He didn't only take my sin. He also purchased my righteousness. He paid a price that will not return void. He started a good work that he will be faithful to complete. Jesus traded his righteousness for mine. And now, having believed in God, His perfect righteousness was accredited to me. I am now the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. I am a new creature, full of galactic potential.
As long as the evil one can convince me of otherwise, my love will be broken. I will love people with a desire to gain value from them, rather than with the perfect love of the Father. I will look to stardom, when I'm already so much more through Christ.
Don't listen to the lie of stars. Accept your identity in Christ as a galaxy and let your mind be blown by just how much bigger that must make God — the one that calls us His, and the one we can call ours.
