Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to see a video of Chris Rice singing… Go Light Your Wolrld, reminding us of our responsibility to GO out and be what others perceive as CHRIST to a very un-Christlike world.
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1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Proverbs 22: 1-5 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: Matthew 5: 16 (SEE ATTACHED PHOTO) … [NKJV] … How can we shine Christ’s light when others see us as the personification of the devil? We are what others believe us to be! …
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Reference Passage #2: Acts 1: 8 … [NKJV] … The power of our witness is so often in the perception of those who see it …
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Reference Passage #2: Ephesian 4: 1 … [NKJV] … We must be perceived by others as walking worthy of our calling as “CHRISTIAN” …
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, …
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Poh Fang Chia, tells an interesting story to illustrate the ODB teaching today. Chia writes of a well-known zoo which had lost its lion as one of its main attractions. So, the zoo disguised a large bull mastiff dog as a lion and kept it at a distance from the patrons. But when the crowd heard the “lion” barking, they knew it was a sham; and the zoo had to close because it lost its reputation.
Chia quoted Shakespeare in the ODB devotional, who wrote, ” The purest treasure mortal times afford is a spotless reputation.“ And in today’s social media conscious world, many times someone’s reputation can be totally devastated or destroyed by some post on Facebook or Twitter. And all too often we’ve seen how the careers of giants in the world of conservative Christianity have been reduced to dust when it came out in the media that they were into sexual sin.
And as the co-founder, leader, and Director of a ministry which promotes the healing and restoration anyone can find from the chains of habitual sexual sin, such as an addiction to pornography, I’ve often said that the truth and power of God using Battle Plan Ministry [BPM] rests in the reputation our ministry has from our online social perception. Would men, broken by their addiction to porn, come to a ministry for healing where the leader, after decades of a pure walk in Christ, were perceived to be back into the sinful pits of sexual sin.?
I think not!!
So, today’s highlight passage, from Proverbs 22: 1, rings very, VERY true for this one Christian; and most certainly, any Christian who desires to carry forth the banner of Christ as the Apostle Paul wrote in Eph. 4: 1. As Christians, we must be perceived as CHRISTLIKE in our witness and personal walk in the world. Hence, our “REP,” as the kids would say, is important! And so often that reputation is created by the way we carry ourselves for others to see. Like it or not, if we are going to do what Jesus commanded His disciples to do - and shine his light in witness to Him in this world (see Matt. 5: 16 and Acts 1: 8) - we must let others see CHRIST shining in our works so God will be glorified.
So, I pray that others - even today - will see my Lord shining through me in all I do and say … yes, even on Facebook or in the words I write in this blog.
My Prayer for Today … Lord, let others see Your light shining in this witness and in all I do in the world today. … 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.
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