The Devotional - A Look at the Book #769

by Jesse Abel

A Word from Papa “J”

It amazes me and surely the same amazement strikes you as well, how a person of a scornful nature receives in return the very same plate of scorn that they dish out. It likewise amazes me that this inheritance is not recognized because of selfish ignorance, the reward of the fool and the reward of the wise come from the hand of Almighty God. El Shaddai. Proverbs 3:34-35

Good Morning

There is something about being a part of something that makes us unique, for example; a person who is a blacksmith is identified with making horseshoes and other related objects of metal or cobbler, as one who makes human shoes or repairs them.

While the blacksmith will never be a horseshoe, nor the cobbler never becomes a repaired shoe (thank God for that) these tradesmen are identified by who they are simply by the popularity of their trades. Also, notice that a military person is identified by his or her clothing, military jargon and other traits acquired by being in the military, yet they themselves are not the military, but like all three of these different walks in life they do identify with what they do.

Here is the rub! Out of the crowd can someone identify you as one who is related personally to Jesus Christ? Or do you keep them in the dark, even guessing about who you are or what you are up too? Believers in Jesus Christ are very good at disguising their relationship with Him and often the opportunity of bringing Jesus into the moment is lost by the moments beforehand.

We should notice something in Matthew 5:13-16 – Let your light shine before the people around you in order that they may observe your good works (beforehand) and glorify God. If folks are not seeing God working through you, it is not because they are blind, even though they are spiritually blind, but it is because you have lost the SALT which is able to reveal the LIGHT.

Jesus explains this in another way in the gospel of John 10: 25-30 as in the works that He does bear witness that He is with the Father and the Father is with Him. Now we are not gods, but we are identified with God through the blood of Jesus Christ and if this is true and it is; why then do we seek to hide behind the mask of confusion.

Verses of scripture that help you and us to be more like Christ in our daily walk should be placed in our soul so that we become readily identified. Not as a blacksmith or a cobbler, or even as a military person. We can and will always be identified in the world as a tradesman of some kind, but we are not always identified with Christ and His sufferings for the LOST sheep! But remember the Lord is long suffering too! 1 Peter 3:1-9, remember too Romans 13:14