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TRUST JESUS TODAY

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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Transparent: Invisible, or obvious (11/27/25)
When people hear your voice, see you coming their way, or see your phone number come up on their Caller ID, what is their first reaction?

In the spiritual realm, are you a magnet, being used by God to draw people towards Him, or a repellent, turning people off?

Know that, while the lifestyle of an advancing disciple will emanate a pleasant fragrance and be an encouragement to fellow believers, it can also be a disturbing, challenging, and irritating stench in the proverbial eyes, ears, and nostrils of the worldly people around him/her (1).

Do you walk the walk, as well as you talk the talk, or is the unspoken testimony of your daily life being used by the Kingdom of Darkness to their advantage, bringing legitimate criticism to the Christian Community-at-large.

Be it His friend or foe, everyone who interacted with Jesus would quickly discern that His presence, words, activities, and example would require an individual response from them.

Some perceived Him to be their long-awaited Messiah, whereas others saw Him as someone to be avoided, confronted, and if necessary, eliminated.

Observers of His earliest followers could see that they had been spending quality time clear with Jesus (2).

Is that how others see you? Can they see the present evidence of you spending regular quality-time with the Lord? Or would you have to announce your beliefs in order for others to know.

His present-day followers are on the same Matt. 28: 19, 20 mission, that generates inescapable scenarios that call for an individual response from those with whom they interact.

Know that, unsaved souls and or back-sliding believers will not like being put in this uncomfortable position.
This mission calls for the promoting of the unadulterated Gospel Message for salvation, and promoting accurate Bible Doctrine for the development (3) and execution (4) of the post (after) salvation spiritual life here on Earth.

For an advancing disciple, “to live is (for) Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1: 21 NASB2020).”

An advancing disciple does not have to go around looking for people to evangelize or to edify. His or her lifestyle, thoughts, words, and actions, being overtly different from that of the worldly-minded individuals around him or her, is what God will use to draw inquirers.

If you are living the life of an advancing disciple, the inquirers will come to you.

It is the “prepared (1Pet. 3: 15 NASB2020),” advancing disciple that God can use the most to carry out the Great Commission (5).

Sad to say, but the unspoken testimony of many who think they are followers of Christ only serve to be examples of what an advancing disciple should not want to become!

Just how prepared any born-again believer will become, is a choice they he or she makes, being obedient or disobedient to the commands to grow (6) in the knowledge and in the application (7) of the Word of God.

It is when inquirers are doing the asking that they are most teachable, and in a frame of mind to hear the unadulterated Gospel Message and or an edifying principle of Bible Doctrine, being then in a position to favorably respond.

Presenting the Gospel or an edifying principle of Scripture to someone that God has not first prepared to receive it, will often fall on “deaf” ears, and may even result in a Matt. 7: 6 scenario.

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces (Matt. 7: 6 NASB2020).”

Pushing the issue under these circumstances may even impede future opportunities.

You are “in Christ Jesus” from the moment you are born-again, but in order to be transparent, enabling people to see Christ in you, it takes a lifetime of Romans 8: 29 conformity.

As we remove the Matt. 5: 15 baskets that hide the light of His presence that is shining within us, the light will become more and more visible to those with whom we interact.

These baskets include any (8) activity that the Bible labels as sin, that has not been confessed (9) and then forsaken (10).

Failure to remove these baskets is what covers the light shining within, and gives the opposition ammunition to neutralize the impact of whatever good we may otherwise try to accomplish.

(1) 2Cor. 2: 14-16 (2) Acts 4:13 (3) 2Pet. 3: 18 (4) James 1: 22 (5) Matt. 28: 19, 20(6) 2Pet. 3: 18 (7) James 1: 22 (8) James 2: 10 (9) 1John 1: 9 (10) John 8:11
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Bonnie Bowden 
12/04/25
Thoughtful devotion about being the light in our dark world.
Loni Bowden-Horn 
12/05/25
This was a thought-provoking devotional. I really liked the opening of your entry about whether you attract people to the kingdom of God or you repel them.