Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go to this video link to hear the group 4Him singing the poignant, pertinent, and powerful song, The Basics of Life, … reminding us that our life IS Christ, … nothing more, nothing less, ,,, and living in and for Him are the basics of life.
=============
Highlight Passage – NKJV: Revelation 3: 3 [NKJV] …
3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.
===========
Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Revelation 3: 1-6 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
============
Reference Passage #1: Matthew 12: 33 … [NKJV] …
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
Reference Passage #2: Galatians 2: 20 … [NKJV] …
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Reference Passage #3: Colossians 3: 1-2,…16-17… [NKJV] …
3 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. …
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.’
Reference Passage #4: 1st John 2: 15-16 … [NKJV] …
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
My Journal for Today: Jesus said it, didn’t He [?]; … “a tree is known by its fruit.” In other words, our reputation, … or our “REP,” as its called on the streets, … is built on whom we are perceived to be by others who’ve known us or observed us in life. And sometimes when we meet someone for the first time, our reputation might simply be a first impression. So, it’s important for our “REP” as Christians to be based on others seeing or perceiving Christ living or rather, being, in us.
And how does that happen? Well, if we, as Christians, are to live up to the reputation and the reality of Christ’s Spirit living in us, we must die to our self and live in Christlikeness. How will one see Christ in us if we choose to live as the world lives? If the world doesn’t see us as being different than the ways the world, we’re not building a reputation as child of God or a witness for Christ.
That’s what Jesus was addressing when He wrote His words to the Church in Sardis [see Rev. 3: 1-6 linked above]. Jesus, through the revelation to John and His letter to that Sardinian church, flatly called these so-called “Christians” out on their “REP.” They were know as being “alive;” but Christ said they were dead in their sinfulness; and He so wanted them to live in and with Him. And that’s what our Lord wants for every one of His children, … to die to self and live in Christ. And if someone perceives us to be like the world, we may seem to be alive to them, but we know, in truth, that we are not doing what Paul wrote about to the church in the Pauline scriptures which bubbled to my consciousness and are quoted above.
Read and meditate on Galatians 2: 20 above; and ask yourself, … “Has my character really been crucified in Christ; and do I live in/for Him rather than for myself or the world?” …
Ouch! … Reciting and meditating on that one from memory stings a little bit with conviction; and I know that my character, if not my “REP,” can still use some recalibrating unto Christlikeness.
So, it behooves us all, knowing the reality of who we REALLY are, to ask ourselves if our “REP” in the world is that which aligns itself with God’s word and His truth. Are we living so that others can see “the fruit on the tree,” being the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5: 22, 23 - linked), rather than the fruit of the flesh (see Galatians 5: 19-21 - linked)? And I, for my Lord, so desire that my “REP” shines the light of Christ into an ever darkening world (see Matt. 5: 16 - linked).
My Prayer for Today … Lord, may my character in You be my reputation in the world. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment