1 Chronicles 2:18-4:4, Acts 24, Psalms 4:1-8, Proverbs 18:16-18
What God said to me – Have you ever known anyone who does what they want and says they don’t care what anyone thinks? They are going to “be themselves” and people can like it or lump it – it doesn’t matter to them. On the surface it seems like there is freedom in having such an attitude. However, when My children live like this, they can limit their effectiveness in sharing My gospel by alienating those I intended them to minister to or share with. When Paul was defending his faith before Felix, the governor of Israel, he shared about the hope he had in Me knowing that there was going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. Because of that coming judgment, he was careful to always do his best to maintain a blameless conscience before Me and before men. Paul didn’t want to damage his reputation by ungodly living or limit the effect of his witness to others. Learn from Paul’s example and strive to always live in such a way that you have a reputation of godliness and faithfulness so when an opportunity comes along to witness and share that people don’t automatically tune you out because of your hypocritical lifestyle.