LifeLink Devotions (Click for audio version)

Monday, January 17, 2021

A very well-known verse in Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.“ Most of us might tend to apply this verse to the circumstances of life and claim that they all have to turn out right. But there is a deeper understanding to this passage than that. I believe that the “things” that are at work for our good are the things that Paul mentions earlier in the 8^th chapter of Romans verses one through four.  

Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

When we simply define “things” as the circumstances of life, it becomes very difficult to find the faith to believe they are doing any good when they are so humanly bad. That is why we need to look at the things of God that are constantly at work in our lives regardless of the circumstances so that we can stand in faith during the tough times.

Circumstances can be binding and suppressive. We begin to focus on solutions rather than substance. We turn our attention from who we are becoming to what we should be getting. I am reminded of a scene from one of my favorite movies of all time, What About Bob, starring Bill Murray. Bob is an emotional and psychological wreck, living in the bondage of constant fear. At one point in his recovery process the daughter of his psychologist convinces Bob to go with them to the lake to go sailing. Bob is scared to death of water, but wants to be free and says he will trust the daughter and the boat. The next thing you hear is Bob yelling, “I’m sailing! I’m sailing!” The camera zooms in on the boat and we see Bob lashed to the main mast of the boat with multiple ropes and covered with numerous life preservers strapped to every part of his body. 

Now in Bob’s mind he was sailing because he was on the boat, but he was far from free. That describes far too many Christians today. They are on the boat but they are not free from all of the emotional and physical bondage of a previous lifestyle or experience. A current contemporary Christian music group called Casting Crowns has a song called Voice of Truth, and one of the verses of the song goes like this:

Oh what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I’m in, onto the crashing waves.

To step out of my comfort zone Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is, and He’s holding out His hand.

But the waves are calling out my name  and they laugh at me, reminding me of all the times I’ve tried before and failed. The waves, they keep on telling me, time and time again, “Boy, you’ll never win!” “You’ll never win!”

But the voice of truth tells me a different story. The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!” The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory.” Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.

We all have the same choice. We can listen to the voice of the circumstances and believe the worst, or we can listen to the voice of truth and be set free. God’s truth of freedom is constantly at work in us, regardless of the circumstances. We are no longer condemned. We are free from the penalty and the power of sin. You can choose today to live according to the Spirit of God’s freedom and not according to the sinful nature’s bondage.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, January 14, 2022

There are three Scripture passages that serve as a great conclusion to our weeklong study of being strong and wearing the armor God has provided us.

2 Peter 1:3 – 4  “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

1 Timothy 4:8  “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

1 Timothy 6:6-7  “But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”

The pursuit of everything in our lives is to become a reflection of God’s glory. It is in the power of the indwelling presence of Jesus that the work of godliness begins. It is in the commitment to wearing the armor that godliness is accomplished.

In my files I found this anonymous prayer that sums up the week’s study. I hope you will find it as encouraging and challenging as I do.

The Warrior’s Prayer

Heavenly Father, Today I stand in victory by putting on the whole armor of God.

I put on the Belt of Truth! May I stand firm in the truth of Your Word so I will not be a victim of Satan’s lies.

I put on the Breastplate of Righteousness! May it guard my heart from evil so I will remain pure and holy, protected under the blood of Jesus Christ.

I put on the Shoes of Peace! May I stand firm in the Good News of the Gospel so Your peace will shine through me and be a light to all I encounter.

I take the Shield of Faith! May I be ready for Satan’s fiery darts of doubt, denial, and deceit so I will not be vulnerable to spiritual defeat.

I put on the Helmet of Salvation! May I keep my mind focused on You so Satan will not have a stronghold on my thoughts.

I take the Sword of the Spirit! May the two-edged sword of Your Word be ready in my hands so I can expose the tempting words of Satan.

By faith your warrior has put on the whole armor of God.

I am prepared to live this day in spiritual victory! Amen

May I suggest that we read that prayer regularly as a part of our devotional routine. I believe it will change our perspective and give us strength for what is ahead.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, January 13. 2022

Fear kept me from being very good at sports when I was a youngster. I remember the very first time I ever tried out for little league baseball. Playing baseball was my dream. My grandfather used to play catch with me and taught me how to throw the ball straight and with a curve. My mom used to tell me stories of the days she would watch the Cleveland Indians at the stadium on the shores of Lake Erie. She even took me there for a game. I remember my boyhood hero – Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers – and in my office I still have a baseball hat he autographed. I dreamed of playing baseball like Mr. Kaline.

But when I took the field that first day of tryouts, I was scared silly. I had a baseball glove that was ok, but when I saw the gloves the other boys had, fear told me I would not be able to compete. Some of them wore baseball shoes, and I only had tennis shoes. Again, fear of not measuring up overwhelmed me. Most of them had been playing organized ball for a couple of years already, and I was the outsider and didn’t fit into their group. Fear told me I would not be able to compete. I saw the way they caught the ball and threw the ball and stood with confidence at the plate swinging hard at the fastballs the coach threw at them. I knew I would not be able to compete. I was afraid because I had decided that my value and acceptance as a person came from my performance on the baseball diamond, and that performance was about to be sub-standard. Fear told me I was sub-standard.

I was living in a spirit of fear – fear of what others would think of me, fear of not measuring up to someone else’s standard, and fear of having to face the reality of my poor performance. My dream was becoming a nightmare.

But then something happened – I made the team. I was assigned the position of second baseman. I found out later that everyone made a team, and that second base was the best position to put a poor player because other players could cover for him. But none of that mattered – I was on the team. I still had lots of fear. What if I miss a ball and blow the game? What if I strike out and blow the game? Every thought I had was from the negative perspective. I knew I could not compete.

 I hated that first year, but my dream did not die. I played every year after that, and fell more deeply in love with the game. I began to play with confidence, and the day came when I fulfilled my dream (to a degree) and played outfield like Al Kaline on several Amateur Baseball League teams in North and South Dakota, making it to the state championships several times, and leading my team in hitting.

To accomplish all of that, I had to conquer my fears.

2 Timothy 1:7  “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

I overcame fear by discovering my value and acceptance in Christ and not in people’s opinions or standards. To remind me of that every day, I still have a trophy from 1967, the third year I played baseball, and my team won the city championship. Not because I was so good, but because I was learning to not live in fear. I was learning to live in the power of a sound mind. That didn’t come from wearing a batting helmet but by wearing the helmet of salvation. In Christ I am complete, and that removes the obstacle of fear.

Pastor John

LifeLink  Devotions

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Through my study of the armor of God in Ephesians 6, it has helped me to organize the equipment into three categories:

1. The armor of Survival.
2. The armor of Rescue.
3. The armor of Nurture.

Let’s look at the armor of survival today. There are three pieces of armor that specifically protect us from the attack of Satan – the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith.

• Truth needs to be the foundation of all our beliefs;
• the righteousness of Christ protects our hearts so that the life-giving blood of Jesus can flow continuously through our whole body;
• and our faith in the Presence, power, and promises of God protects us from the attacks of Satan against our personal worth and purpose.

In other words, with these three pieces of armor in place we are able to survive anything this sinful world throws at us, and rejoice in Christ while doing it.

Please take the time to read the following passage of Scripture. It’s one of my favorite because of the hope and joy that it gives.

1 Peter 1:3 – 9  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

We can have hope because the trials will most assuredly prove the genuineness of our faith, resulting in praise, honor, and glory to Jesus. The joy is experienced even during the trials because we are assured of the outcome. Every trial and test makes us stronger to stand against the storms yet to come.

Li Cha Mi, a Chinese preacher, was nearly killed in 1872 by robbers during the violence against foreigners. At a subsequent conference, he said: “You have all heard of my sufferings during the past few months. I wish to say that these sufferings were very slight. It was easy to endure pain when I could feel that I bore it for Christ. It is wonderful—I cannot explain it. When attacked by the robbers and beaten almost to death, I felt no pain. Their blows did not seem to hurt me at all. Everything was bright and glorious. Heaven seemed to open, and I thought I saw Jesus waiting to receive me. It was beautiful. I have no words to describe it. Since that time I seem to be a new man. I now know what it is to ‘love not the world.’ My affections are set on things above. Persecutions trouble me not. I forget all my sorrows when I think of Jesus. I call nothing on earth my own. I find that times of trial are best for me. When all is quiet and prosperous, I grow careless and yield to temptation, but when persecutions come, then I fly to Christ. The fiercer the trial, the better it is for my soul.”

When our perspective is correctly focused on the hope of glory, the joy of the Lord is our strength and we will not only survive trials, but they will make us stronger. Rejoice in the Lord – you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

I apologize to all of you who are not football fans, but the football analogy will be used again today. Yesterday we talked about foolish it is to think that the equipment makes the man. It is equally foolish to believe that the man doesn’t need the equipment.

Imagine this scenario – two teams take to the field for the opening kick-off. In a prideful attempt to prove their strength and skill, the team set to receive the kick-off is wearing no football equipment. Instead, showing off their muscles they are wearing spandex shorts, no shirts, and no helmets. They take their positions, all the while pumping up their chests and flexing their biceps. The opposing team is not impressed, and when the kicker boots the ball to the goal line they rush to engage their foolish opponents. Helmets and shoulder pads smash into unprotected muscle and bodies are strewn across the field. Some of the players are able to get up and prepare for the first offensive play, but they are already in pain. By the time a few more plays have been run, it is obvious that this is going to be a massacre that will probably end in forfeit, as the unprotected players will not be able to continue.

That is the spiritual scenario when we do not put on the full armor of God. We are vulnerable to attack and  unprepared to take any kind of stand against the forces of evil if we do not wear our spiritual pads and helmet. The enemy is not willing to weaken himself simply because we are weak. The opponent does not call time out to give us time to go back to the locker room and get prepared. The war is on, and the opening kick-off has already taken place. Put on your armor.

Ephesians 6:10-11,13  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil…Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

Notice three important truths from verse 11:

1. It is our responsibility to put on the armor. In His grace God has given us the equipment, but we must choose to wear it. Everything we need to be protected in the war is in our locker, but we must dress ourselves.
2. The equipment is provided to make us able to stand. When we are wearing the armor we CAN stand. Don’t go into the war with doubt. We do not need to learn to stand, nor are we just trying to stand stronger; we CAN stand.
3. The stand we take is a personal stand – so that you can take your stand. Each of us has a different position. Take your stand where God has placed you. Don’t try to play a different position. You weren’t trained for that. Take your stand in your own place and the whole team benefits.

One more thing – notice the guaranteed outcome. After we have taken our stand, and done everything God has asked us to do, we will still be standing! What a great team we are on. We win and everyone on the team is still standing – if they wore their armor. Is yours on right now? 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, January 10, 2022 

It’s time for NFL football playoffs, all leading up to the Super Bowl. Teams have prepared all year for these games, ready to put on all of their equipment and take a stand against an opponent that is seeking to knock them down and run over them. But there is something interesting I have noticed about all of the protective equipment that they wear: with the exception of some specialized pads to protect specific injuries, they all wear the same things –  helmets, shoulder pads, hip pads, and thigh pads. Yet in any given game, with all of the same equipment, one team beats the other. It must not be the equipment that wins games.

Inside all that equipment is a person, and it is the strength, skill and preparation of the player that makes the difference in the game. The equipment is to protect him, not equip him. Having the equipment on makes the player less vulnerable to injury, so the fear factor is diminished, giving the player the opportunity to push himself to his physical limits. But all of the energy and execution are the responsibility of the player and not the equipment.

As Christians we are also in a battle against an opponent, but this is no game. It is a war. The opponent will not extend a hand and help us up after knocking us down. They are coached to maim and destroy. They will not meet us at the 50-yard line to shake hands and kneel in prayer when it is over. They are an intimidating team. But before we run and hide and forfeit out of fear, let’s remember that we have some equipment to protect us.

Ephesians 6:10-11 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

Now, let’s hear a motivational speech from our Coach. 

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. You are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” (From 1 John, John’s Gospel, and Luke)

We have two huge advantages over the opponent: Our Coach has already beaten their coach, and our Coach has the ability to actually live inside our equipment with us. When the opponent puts on their equipment they simply take orders from their coach. But when we put on God’s armor, God gets in it with us, and since he has already beaten the enemy once, we are guaranteed of victory again. 

The point of all of this is to get our focus on the right thing – our strength is not in the armor, but in the power of God abiding in us. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. The armor protects us from injury, but it is Jesus Christ who equips us from within to push ourselves to our physical and spiritual limits. It is His power in us that wins the game. Our preparation for battle starts before we put any armor on – it starts in our hearts where Jesus Christ the Coach comes to live and reign. Once we are strong in Him, then we can put on the armor and fight the war.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, January 7, 2022

In the classic 1980 golf movie Caddyshack, one of the characters is a Bishop who is really not very good at the game. But on one particular day he has the game of his life. It is raining as he starts, and every shot he hits is the best shot of his life. The storm gets worse as he continues to make shot after shot. Soon the rain is falling in torrents, the wind is blowing in gales, and the lightning is striking all around him, but he keeps playing, seemingly oblivious to the danger and discomfort of the weather. Finally, on the last hole, with water standing an inch deep on the putting green, he sinks a putt for a new course record. Raising his arms in triumph with his putter still in his hand, he is struck by a bolt of lightning and killed. 

Apart from the stupidity of his choice to keep playing in such a storm, this scene depicts perseverance. No matter what the external obstacle, this golfer was focused on completing his purpose to have the greatest round of golf in his soon-to-be-over life. The joy he was experiencing from accomplishing his purpose overcame any obstacle or suffering. 

James 1:2 – 4  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

In Thayer’s Greek Dictionary, perseverance is defined as the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Perseverance has several synonyms used in the Bible – patience, steadfastness, and endurance are the three main ones. They all express the same truth – stick with it until it’s done. 

Notice in Thayer’s definition the following key points:

1. We have a deliberate purpose. God has prepared for us a divine purpose, and we are privileged to choose to accept it and deliberately obey it.
2. Once we have made the commitment to fulfill our purpose, we are to be loyal to everything that makes the accomplishment of the purpose possible – specifically faith and piety: faith being what we believe and piety being how we live what we believe.
3. Following our deliberate choice to accomplish God’s purpose and our loyalty to faith and piety, we are able to persevere no matter what the trial or suffering.

Now compare those three aspects of perseverance to this passage of Scripture. 

Hebrews 12:1 – 3  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

A deliberate purpose is defined as a race. A loyalty to faith and piety is defined as fixing our eyes on Jesus. Perseverance is defined as running without growing weary or losing heart. That’s what maturity looks like in a follower of Jesus. And when we’ve finished the last hole and accomplished our objective, raise your arms in triumph because Jesus will take you home and say, “Well done!“

Pastor John

https://anchor.fm/pastor-john-van-gorkom/episodes/SERVE-OTHERS-e1cqeuqLifeLink Devotions

Thursday, January 6, 2022

So far this week we have been digging a little deeper into five marks of a spiritually mature person. On Monday we discovered the truth of knowing Jesus intimately; on Tuesday we talked about sacrificing the immediate for the eternal; and yesterday we grew in our decision-making by considering moral discernment. Today we find the teaching of Scripture in Hebrews that defines maturity as loving service to other people.

Hebrews 6:1, 10  “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

Coming up on Monday night the college football national championship game will be held. I enjoy watching college football. I remember one specific game championship game sixteen years ago. We had church that night, so after getting home I sat down to watch what was left of the game. There were 5 minutes left in the second quarter, and Texas, the team for which I was cheering, had the ball and scored a quick touchdown to take the lead. At that moment the phone rang. It was a young man that I had been assisting with his adjustment to society after getting out of jail. He had fallen and sprained his ankle and was on his way to the hospital emergency room. He asked me if I would be able to pick him up later and take him home. I agreed.

Little did I know that he would call back at 10:15 PM to have me come and pick him up. Those of you that know me well know that I am usually in bed by that time, but the game had kept me up. I jumped in the car, hoping to get this all done and return home to see the end of the game. When I arrived at the hospital they were not yet ready to release him, so I watched the game with him in his room. As we were transferring him into the wheel chair to go to my car USC scored a touchdown and went ahead by the score of 38-26 with 6 minutes to play. “Well, it’s over now!“ I said as we walked out of the hospital, forcing myself to feel better about missing the end of the game.

After a 40 minute wait at the pharmacy for his pain medication, I finally returned home at 11:45 PM just in time to see the final moments of the post game show and heard the news that Texas had come back and scored 15 points in the final four minutes and won the game. I couldn’t believe it. I missed it. The greatest college football game ever and I didn’t get to see the best part of it. 

Now for many of us, the temptation might be to think, “If it weren’t for other people’s problems my life would be so simple.” That is NOT what I thought! I was sad that I missed the game, but my heart was blessed to know that I was able to help someone who had nowhere else to turn. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 

Spiritually mature people sacrifice the immediate for the eternal and serve others with the love of God. Try it today!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Another of the marks of spiritual maturity found in the New Testament is that we are able to distinguish good from evil. There is much more to this than just knowing right from wrong. A two-year-old child is able to understand yes and no, but in their heart they are not yet able to discern good from evil. The child responds to benefits and consequences, but does not have the ability to comprehend the nature of the action that brings the reward or punishment. It is in the understanding of the nature of good and evil that maturity occurs.

Hebrews 5:14  “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” 

The author of Hebrews says that this kind of maturity and understanding can only come through constant practice. The mature believer in Christ will evaluate the nature of every activity before participating. Never will a mature Christian simply respond on the basis of benefit or consequence, but will always look deeper at the nature of every choice to determine its intrinsic good or evil.

Look carefully at two key words for us to understand: one is trained and the other is constant practice. The word trained is an athletic term used to describe the intense physical preparations an athlete makes for an event. It literally means to exercise naked. So intense was the exercise that the body heated to the point of removing all clothing. The second word translated constant practice is the noun form of the verb used to describe marriage when we say to have and to hold. It means that we value something so dearly that we are not only glad to have it but we will cherish it and use it to its fullest extent.

Let me illustrate. Many of you were tempted about 2/3’s of the way through the last paragraph to quit reading because it was either boring or too deep or didn’t tell a cute story that was easy to read. Yet every one of you has been given the power of the Holy Spirit to know and understand the deeper things of God. You have been given an incredible gift of spiritual insight but maybe you have not chosen to train yourself through constant practice and exercise of the mind to use the gift to its fullest extent.

The same principle applies to our everyday lifestyle choices – we look only at the benefit or consequence of the choice and respond on that basis alone, rather than training ourselves through the constant practice of spiritual discernment to see the moral nature of the choice or activity.

When that two-year-old child begins to reach the age of understanding, we as mature parents move them from the reward and consequence stage of training to the stage of asking them to know why they made the choice they did. We begin to train the child to make moral decisions, not self-centered decisions. We want our children to know the moral difference between good and evil rather than simply choosing based on personal gratification.

That is what mature people do, and that is what mature Christians do. Is it easy? If it were then we wouldn’t be told to exercise naked. It’s hard work to move from the routine of going along with the flow to swimming upstream against the current of popular opinion. So strip down to the bare essence of who you are and train yourself to identify anything that will harm you. Set your mind firmly on the goal of righteousness in Christ, and start exercising your right and privilege to know the moral nature of all things. Constant practice will perfect the skill of distinguishing good from evil.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions 

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Yesterday I had to stop at the gas station and fill my car’s tank. If I had not done that I would have run out of gas. I wanted to avoid that scenario because it could lead to a period of insecurity and depression. Here’s how: I would have had to call someone on the phone and ask for help, which puts me at risk of appearing like a fool for not planning better. This inconvenience would cause stress to me and to the person helping me, and could possibly stress our relationship. Valuable time has been spent correcting an avoidable situation and there is the possibility that I will have to listen to a speech by someone about how to manage my life better, which in turn will make me feel inadequate and devalued as a person. That will feed my insecurities and cause me to feel depressed about who I am and to question the true value of my life. That would have caused me to go to a sporting goods store and look for something to purchase, because if I am capable of buying a new item to enhance my life then I must be ok as a person. To avoid all of that, I filled my car’s gas tank.

Now that’s a little over-stated, but there is a truth I want to draw out of it – every one of us has an emotional filling station we use to make us feel good about who we are and to avoid the devaluation of our lives. When our emotional gas tanks start to get empty we head for the activity that has always brought us comfort in the past so we can feel good about ourselves again. One of mine is shopping. When I get down on myself I buy things. 

What do you use as a filling station for your self-worth? It could be that you escape into books or movies because fantasy is far better than reality. Maybe it’s drugs or alcohol to relieve pain. It might be sex so you can prove your manhood or womanhood. Maybe it’s a hobby you use to gain a sense of accomplishment. It could be gossip or criticism to build yourself up at the expense of others.  Maybe you dive deeper into work to prove your worth through performance. Whatever it is, it needs to be addressed. It is immature to use the world and its values as a basis for determining our value. It is childish to put all of our energy into the immediate rather than to press on toward the eternal.

Philippians 3:7-9, 15 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…Let those of us who are mature think this way…”

In the Apostle Paul’s past he took pride in all of the things he accomplished as a Pharisee because it earned him a place in society and a sense of security and worth. When he got down on himself he just obeyed a few more laws or persecuted a few more Christians. He filled his emotional tank with activities that earned him acceptance with his peers. But when he met Jesus, he sacrificed all of that immediate gratification for the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Whatever profited his pride he now considered garbage so that he could find his true worth and value in Jesus Christ. He wanted nothing to do with a self-imposed or socially acceptable value system, but rather wanted only the righteousness of God through an intimate relationship with Jesus. He gave up visiting the world’s filling stations and replaced them all with the filling station of God’s grace. The prize he pursued in life was no longer one of immediate gratification, but one of eternal fulfillment.

Isn’t it time for us to put all of the world’s pursuits on the Wonderful Counselor’s couch and let Him evaluate the real reason why we focus on those activities? And isn’t it time for us to honestly admit that many, if not all of them, are done for personal gain and emotional gratification? If that is true, then this is the start of maturity for us, because we will, like Paul, consider those things to be rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ intimately and having Him fill our tanks with His grace.

So the next time you see me shopping, ask me why I’m there. I hope I never have to answer that it’s because I need to replenish my worth. 

Pastor John