from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church https://ift.tt/2ueAr3Q
via IFTTT Recognized as having been with Jesus. Wow! Now that is credentials! Even those these guys were but lowly fishermen, never been to college, likely never finished school, worked a lowly manual labor job, these men were paid the highest compliment possible. Their behaviour, speech, persona spoke Jesus. They were clearly followers of Christ. No, they didn't have a tshirt with a catchy saying on it, no membership card, no official representation. What they possessed was much more evident, much more valuable. They acted like Jesus! They spoke like Jesus! They reasoned like Jesus! And they healed the sick, just like Jesus. The evidence was within them, around them, like the rays of a hot summer sun. They lived Jesus. This is the gospel! This is the good news! The lowest, least capable, least worthy can live like Jesus to such an extent that when others look at you, they see only Jesus. What does the world see when they look at you? Consider that. Are you different? Do people see you and proclaim "he has been with Jesus!" If not, why not? What are you waiting for? What else can be done to make you like Jesus? Peter and John had no schooling, no training, no licensing, no endorsement. All they had was a few years of Jesus presence and words followed by the gift of the Holy Ghost. That's it! You have the very same things. You have the same scriptures they had. You read the same wisdom, miracles, teaching. You have the same spirit available to you. Nothing has changed! So ask yourself, what do people see when they look at you? Do they see you, or Jesus? As a Christian, as a follower of Christ, we are declared dead. Dead to our own life, dead to our own ambitions, dead to our own credentials. And alive to Christ. How then, can the world see us? We are dead and buried! This is the essence of the Christian Life. We are called to die to self, and live for Christ. We exemplify that in our normal life, every minute of every day. Not on Sundays, but the rest of the week, when real life happens. Where did you take Jesus this week? Where did He take you? What did the people around you say? If the answers are not the same as for Peter and John here, repent! Turn to Jesus and ask forgiveness for hiding Him and showing yourself instead. Repent of caring about yourself more than others. Repent of wasting a day of life, a portion of the few moments granted us. Repent and start living for Jesus 24x7. Stop justifying your actions and just give it all to God. And spend today, whatever time you have left, shining Jesus everywhere He leads.
