Daily Devotional

September 19th 2023

TUESDAY

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns.—Philippians 2:14-16a (MSG)

Many Christians claim to rely on the indwelling, in-filling power of the Holy Spirit. But at the same time, they mumble and complain about what the Holy Spirit leads them to do. That reveals an undercurrent of rebellion. It shows we don’t really believe the trials of our lives are sent of the Lord, and we don’t really believe that He is adequate to meet every situation.
When we act in unbelief, the world around us can’t see Christ, so there is no light in their darkness. If the life our neighbors see in us is filled with the same murmuring and discontent and bitterness they have, what’s the difference between our quality of life and theirs?
Unless there is a quality of life that can be explained only in terms of God, there is nothing to challenge the world around. The world waits to see God, and they will as Christians stop their mumbling and complaining and disputing. As we live Christ amid a crooked and perverse generation, the light of the Gospel will shine into the darkness. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Let your light shine before men and women that they may see your good works… (Matthew 5:16).”
We must stop our mumbling and complaining and disputing about everything that comes in our lives. It is only the obedience of faith that produces that quality of life which cannot be explained simply in terms of our own human personality.
As we go today, we should ask ourselves, “Do I have a lifestyle of complaint that serves to discredit the authenticity of my Christian witness? What is the counterpart to grumbling and argument that will release the Light of Christ into the world’s darkness?”

Prayer: Lord, we thank You for who You are and for all that You have done and are doing for us. We ask forgiveness for the grumbling we may do. As we go today, help us to trust You in every situation and to shine brightly the light of Jesus Christ in a dark world. It is in His name, that we pray. AMEN!

(We invite your comments. Feel free to share this devotion with your friends and invite them to subscribe by forwarding their email address to the Pastor at: fredjeffsmith@cox.net.)

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