Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Jason Gray singing … Glow In The Dark … declaring in song the reality of how Christians should be able to glow Christlikeness in this very dark world.
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 3:20 [NLT] …
20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
… Those who are in Christ glow with His light in the darkness of this world.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 3:16-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus makes it clear why He came to save those who come to Him in faith … to bring us from the darkness of sin into the light of truth.
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Reference Passage #1 [NLT] : … Acts 1:8 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ...
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
… Jesus promises us that we will shine forth in this world as His witnesses.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Mart DeHaan, tells a story about Plato to illustrate how a Christian’s character will be very visible and never invisible. The ODB author wrote: The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 427–c. 348 bc) found an imaginative way of shining light on the dark side of the human heart. He told the story of a shepherd who innocently discovered a golden ring that had been hidden deep in the earth. One day a great earthquake opened up an ancient mountainside tomb and revealed the ring to the shepherd. By accident he also discovered that the ring had the magical ability to enable the wearer to become invisible at will. Thinking about invisibility, Plato raised this question: If people didn’t have to worry about being caught and punished, would they resist doing wrong?
This ancient philosophical illustration was much like that of Jesus relating to Nicodemus one dark night how man must be born again to come out of the darkness of sin into the light Christ offers to all who believe on His Name [see highlight passage]. And that’s what happens for those of us in Christ in this world. Living in Christ and being His witnesses, we become very visible - even repugnant - to the world.
As Jason Gray sings in the linked song, when we openly witness for Christ (see Acts 1:8), we begin to glow Christlikeness in a sin-darkened world. And as the images in the You Tube of today’s song illustrate, the world will not like the light which emanates from us as Christians. And they will do all they can to shut down our Light, … even trying to snuff out that glow.
Let me pray that as we go about in this ever-darkening world, … even today, … that we glow like Jesus in the dark (see photo).
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, shine Your light thru me. … 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, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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