LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

I know my brain is working because I am both thinking and writing. But I can’t seem to process my thoughts this morning. My mind is filled with ideas but I can’t organize them. I am at once both sharp and dull. I am a living oxymoron. I may be just a moron.

Oxymora are interesting. (Oxymora is the plural form of oxymoron.) The very word itself is a combination of two Greek words – oxy, meaning sharp, and moros, meaning dull.  Thus, even the word oxymoron is an oxymoron.

An oxymoron is a word or combination of words that represent opposing and contradictory ideas. For example, we eat jumbo shrimp. When we are uncomfortable in a social situation, we might try to appear invisible. Women spend millions of dollars on natural makeup. Journalists report that someone was found missing.  

1 Peter 1:6-7  “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.”  

It appears that Peter was guilty of using an oxymoron in today’s Scripture reading when he refers to joyful suffering. He is clearly stating that in the life of a Christian there are two opposing emotions constantly intertwined in our lives. We are filled with joy because of our new life in Christ and the hope of glory. At the same time, we are experiencing grief because of all the sufferings of this sinful world in which we live. Joyful suffering. Glorious grief. Christian oxymora.

This may not come as good news to you, but the constant tension of joy and grief is intentionally designed by God for our good. Paul Brand, the missionary surgeon to India wrote a book entitled, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants. In it he writes, ”I have come to see that pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as Siamese twins, strangely joined and intertwined. Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle.”

It would be much more appealing to us if we could just teach that grief and suffering go away when we come to Christ, but that would not be the truth. God intentionally uses the trials and troubles of life and our emotional grief as a means to refine our faith. So much as you rejoice in your salvation now, you will rejoice even more as the joy of your salvation conquers the grief of your troubles. Trials prove the reality of faith.

Be careful when you read this passage. We are not told to rejoice about the suffering – we are told to rejoice about our salvation while we are suffering. The foe of our faith would have us fix our focus on our failures. We tumble into his trap when we tremble in our trials. But there is an alternative – we can choose to be vocal about our victory in Christ.

Each one of us has the right and power to determine our own attitude. Our choice to rejoice or grumble boils down to one determining factor – our focus on long-term rewards or short-term benefits. One is the truth, and the other is a lie. The truth is that we have guaranteed long-term rewards based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The lie is that there are any short-term benefits to wallowing in our grief. Faith is not refined in the fires of grief, but in the praise of God who is greater than the flames. 

Genuine faith rejoices in permanent salvation regardless of temporary trials. Sure things get bad – even unbearable at times. But nothing – “neither trouble nor hardship nor persecution nor famine nor nakedness nor danger nor sword nor death nor life; neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In this you can rejoice!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

In June of 2008, Deputy Malachi McCoy of Tampa, Florida, was reading the Bible and came upon Psalm 28:7. It reads, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” He was immediately drawn to one line in the verse: “The Lord is my shield.” Using a silver paint pen, the son of a preacher inscribed those words on the black steel plate of his bulletproof vest.

Later that same week, during a gunman’s rampage in northwest Tampa that left three people shot dead and two county sheriff’s deputies wounded, his “shield” did its job. McCoy said his faith — and perhaps the Bible verse he wrote on his vest — has helped him through the ordeal. “I just thought it would be kind of neat to write that on the steel plate,” he said.

Deputy McCoy serves as an example of having the proper object for our faith. Ultimately, his faith is in the power of God, who is His eternal shield. Practically, in everyday life, he wears a bulletproof vest.

1 Peter 1:3-5  “…through faith [we] are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

There is a great battle going on all around us, and we are in it. Bullets are flying fast and furiously from the number one criminal of the universe, and they are aimed at those whose faith is in Christ. But this one thing is guaranteed – none of those bullets can end our spiritual lives. Through faith in Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, we are shielded by God’s power. We are eternally His!

However, we can be wounded. The two other deputies in the Florida shooting spree were wearing vests, but the bullets struck them in unprotected areas. Fortunately, their wounds were not lethal.

Every day we walk into a world that is filled with flying bullets and flaming arrows of temptation and sin. It is our choice whether to walk into it fully protected or not. In the case of police officers, they have chosen to protect the vital organs, hoping to survive a wound to a non-vital part of their body. But sin is not like bullets, which damage only the part they hit. Sin is progressive and behaves more like a deadly virus. It spreads to areas we thought were protected because it gets in behind the shield. While it can’t end our eternal life, it can and will destroy our physical life.

God has given us all the armor we need to be fully protected from the deadly effects of sin. His Word is filled with instructions about putting on our armor, and with warnings about what will happen to us if we don’t. Here’s an example. Paul is writing to Timothy and says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

Later He writes again and says, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

Those are just two of the admonitions to live behind the shield and be protected from Satan’s traps. He will trap us with money, and he will trap us with pride in our position. Every day our enemy is setting traps for us to destroy our faith in Christ and our public witness for Him. We must take action. We must guard against complacency we are satisfied with the security we have in Christ for eternity. We must be on guard continually against the attacks of the enemy. It should not be enough to simply wait for the day when we will be rescued from this sinful world – we should be living the joys of heavenly victory today, and every day.

So take up your shield of faith and get every part of your life behind it. Don’t let down your guard for a minute. Any and every part of your life you allow to be exposed to the enemy will be wounded. It will become infected. It will spread. If it already has, then repent and ask for God’s forgiveness. You will be restored. Then trust in Him and not the world. He is your strength and your shield!

Pastor John 

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, August 15, 2022

Several years ago I was interrupted by a phone call from my wife. She sounded a little bit frantic. “What are you doing for the next hour or so? I really need you to come home and help. I have to take one of the grandchildren to Urgent Care.” Denise was the daycare provider for the kids, and our youngest grandson was sick with a virus that produced a lot of congestion. He was having trouble breathing.

I jumped in the car, raced home, and helped get the baby and his older brother ready to go to the doctor. Now any of you who know me know that I can get pretty focused when an emergency arises. I go into serious problem-solving mode. Not just normal serious mode, but extreme, high energy, tension-filled, hurry up and let’s get moving mode. I would not have been a good ER doctor.

Just as we were preparing to leave, another daughter-in-law called, and when she heard what was going on she volunteered to watch the older brother at her house. That was a blessing. So I took off in one direction with one boy, and Denise took off to the doctor with the baby. After I dropped my boy off at his cousin’s house, and as I drove back to the office, a song from Chris Tomlin came on the radio and brought me back to a place of emotional balance. The Holy Spirit’s timing was perfect, not only for this morning, but also for the application of the truth I would present in this devotional.

1 Peter 1:3-5  “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.” 

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we have been guaranteed an inheritance that can never be taken from us, no matter what the circumstances of life and how hectic they get. We have been born again into a living hope that is being shielded by God’s power, and that fact brings us to a place of unfathomable peace.

That’s what the song reminded me – the anchor for my soul found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I hope the words to “I Will Rise” will be just what you need for today as well.

There’s a peace I’ve come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There’s an anchor for my soul
I can say “It is well”

There’s a day that’s drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
“Worthy is the Lamb”
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
“Worthy is the Lamb”

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, August 12, 2022

It’s been a tough summer of rollercoaster emotions. In six months I will no longer be full-time in ministry. One day I am excited about having more free time, and the next I’m overwhelmed with the desire to keep serving my Lord with every ounce of energy I have. Some days it causes me to grumble. But immediately when the internal questioning of my purpose begins the precious Lord Jesus is right there to correct me. Today I was immediately overwhelmed with the words of First Peter 1:3.

1 Peter 1:3  “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…”

Why was I grumbling about my lack of direction and purpose when I could be praising God for my permanent and living hope in Christ?

I think one reason we tend to focus on the bad things of this life rather than the blessings of our living hope is because we don’t fully understand or appreciate God’s mercy. Mercy can be defined as “not receiving the condemnation one fully deserves.”  Follow me here…to be fully appreciated mercy must be understood in light of our worst offenses. Satan knows this as well. When we reach a point of full admission of our offenses, where mercy can be received, Satan energizes our pride. If we succumb to his temptation, we will choose to focus on the bad, resulting in shame and self-hate. We will grumble about what we think is hopeless rather than praise the One who has given us hope. Our pride convinces us that the pity we generate from such behavior will somehow satisfy our need for attention and recognition. We have chosen to believe that focusing on the bad will bring some form of good.

I was struck by a statement from the author of an article in Christianity Today. In her article entitled “Too Deep for Words,” Thelma Hall wrote, “Most of us seem to assume that union with God is attained by laboriously ascending a ladder of virtues, which finally fashion our holiness and make us fit for him. In truth, the reverse is far more accurate: the great saints have been those who fully accepted God’s love for them. It is this which makes everything else possible. Our incredulity in the face of God’s immense love, and also self-hate or an unyielding sense of guilt, can be formidable obstacles to God’s love, and are often subtle and unrecognized forms of pride, in putting our “bad” above His mercy.”

In contrast to our usual attitudes, I want you to notice the Apostle Paul’s attitude towards all of his “bad”. He had this attitude because he understood mercy. Read carefully the following contrasts between sin and mercy and see if they don’t challenge your attitudes as they did mine.

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7)

“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”  (1 Timothy 1:13-17)

“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:3-7)

Now, let’s adjust our attitudes so that we begin expressing praise for the life we have in Christ because of His mercy, rather than grumbling about what’s wrong with life.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, August 11, 2022

1 Peter 1:2  “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”

Would you classify your spiritual life as one of abundance? Would you in any way use the word abundance to describe the state of your relationship with Christ? Well, according to F. B. Meyer, author, pastor, and evangelist of last century England, “the reason may be that you do not distinguish between praying and taking. There is a profound difference between asking for a thing and appropriating it. You may admit that God’s abundant grace is near you through Jesus Christ, and yet you may not quite see the necessity of learning how to take it. Some people are always telegraphing to heaven for God to send a cargo of blessing to them; but they are not at the docks to unload the vessel when it comes in. How many of God’s richest blessings for which you have been praying for years have come right close to you, but you do not know how to lay hold of and use them!

In Romans 5:17 we read, “how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” Take note of something important as explained by Meyer – “The emphasis is not on grace, not on abundance, but on receiving it; and the whole grace of God may be around your life today, but if you have not learned to take it in, it will do you no good.”

In this day and age, grace and peace are being put to the test. We must receive all that God has for us in abundance or we will soon fall prey to the ravaging beast of social unrest. We may think we are already full, but we do not yet know the abundance of what God has for us. We have some grace and some peace, but is it really ours in abundance? Here’s a mental experiment you can do to test your understanding of abundance.

Select a large box to represent your life, and place in it as many cannon balls as it will hold. When you are done, resist the temptation to believe the box is full. It still has space for more.  Bring a quantity of marbles; very many of these may be packed in the spaces between the larger cannon balls. Some will now believe the box to be full. The truth is there is an abundance of space still left unfilled in the box.

Bring some bb’s and pour them into the box. Literally thousands will be needed to fill the spaces between the marbles. Now for sure the box is full. Or is it? Bring some fine sand and let it slide down into the box. Much will be needed to fill the space that still exists between the bb’s. Now we are done, right. Not!  Grab a bucket of water and start filling the box, and it will soak into all the space between each grain of sand. When the water begins to overflow the box, you have filled the box. That is abundance.

It may seem that our lives are filled with grace and peace because we measure abundance by the big events. But when we carefully evaluate every minute of every day, we will see that our lives are abundant with unfilled spaces. There are far too many moments when grace and peace do not abound. But it doesn’t have to be so. We can be filled with the abundance of grace and peace. It is ours for the taking. God extends limitless grace and grants peace that passes all understanding. We just have to receive it. We’ve made application for the benefits many times in prayer; now it’s time to appropriate those benefits. Let the water of the Word of God flow into every nook and cranny of your life so that grace and peace are yours in abundance.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

I am strange. I will give you a moment to recover. But here’s the best part. I want to be strange. Sometimes my strangeness is unintended. But there is one very specific area in which I work hard to be strange. The precedent for such behavior is set in Scripture by the Apostle Peter.

1 Peter 1:1  “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world…”

I desire to be set apart from the world and considered strange to them. 

We who are followers of Christ should stand out in our world. We are to be strangers wherever we are, no matter how long we have been there. The only reason not to be a stranger is if we have already won our world to Jesus so that we are all known to God and thereby known to each other.

Strangers. None of us enjoys being one. Some of us have a head start because we are already strange. But in the opening sentence of his letter to the followers of Christ dispersed all over the world, Peter calls them strangers. Many of them were strangers because they had been forced to move to a different land. All of them were strangers because in Christ they did not identify with the world.

The love of the world will fail. The love of people will fail. No matter how familiar and friendly we become with them it will not last. Only the love of God will never fail, because God will not let us go. In Christ and by Christ we have been placed into the hand of God and He will never let us go.

When we come to Jesus for salvation, we become the friend of God. No longer are we strangers to Him. No longer are we on the outside longing for what only those on the inside can experience. In Christ we are included in the great company of faithful servants of God who have discovered the wonderful abundance of life found as God’s friend.

Never again will we be called a stranger to God. But as the friend of God we must be considered a stranger to the world. Much energy is wasted trying to be the friend of both.

As for me, I desire to be strange to the world, so that I might be strong for Jesus.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

 Many years ago Eugene Ormandy was directing the Philadelphia Orchestra. Suddenly something terrible happened. In his enthusiasm over the music, and his burning desire to bring out the best in the musicians, he dislocated his shoulder. I don’t know what they were playing. Certainly not Mozart. Perhaps Stravinsky. But at any rate, he was giving all of himself to it!  

In the Bible, such burning desire is called zeal. The very word zeal means “to be hot.” It is translated in a variety of ways in the New Testament, but always has to do with strong desire and passion for something or Someone.

Romans 12:11-13  “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

As I read the story of Mr. Ormandy, I asked myself, “Have I ever been so passionate about something that I’ve dislocated anything, even a necktie while preaching?” 

I looked for some examples of zeal this morning, and I think I’m getting a good idea of what it is. My understanding started to grow when I read this prayer from a country preacher in Red Rock, Mississippi. “O Lord, give Thy servant this mornin’ the eyes of the eagle and the wisdom of the owl; connect his soul with the gospel telephone in the central skies; ‘luminate his brow with the Sun of Heaven; possess his mind with love for the people; turpentine his imagination; grease his lips with ’possum oil; loosen his tongue with the sledge hammer of Thy power; ’lectrify his brain with the lightnin’ of the word; put ’petual motion on his arms, fill him plum full of the dynamite of Thy glory; ’noint him all over with the kerosene oil of Thy salvation and set him on fire. Amen!”

That’s zeal! To be set on fire. To burn hot with passion for a purpose or cause. And who has a better cause for which to be zealous than the cause of Christ? What other mission can ‘lectrify the brain like sharing the Good News of Jesus? What other outcome can compare to the miracle of rebirth in the life of a sinner as we watch God transform their life before our eyes?

Unfortunately many have never experienced zeal. The nuggets of knowledge they collect about God never become a blazing fire of activity for God. Instead of the unsaved being warmed by the love of God burning in the Christian’s life, they are driven away shivering with the coldness of condemnation. So many Christians live life like Luigi Tarisio, who collected violins.

Luigi Tarisio was found dead one morning with not a comfort in his home. As they looked through his house, they found 246 exquisite violins which he had been collecting all his life. They were crammed into an attic, and the best one was in the bottom drawer of an old rickety bureau. In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all that music because he treasured the instrument rather than burning with zeal for the music they make.  His greatest treasure was a Stradivarius that had not been played for 147 years.

Many of Christ’s people are like old Tarisio. In our very love of the church and with a displaced zeal we seek to protect ourselves from the world rather than sing out the Good News to the world. In our zeal for the truth we forget to publish it. When shall we all learn that the Good News needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? All people need to hear it.

I challenge you to read carefully again these words from the Apostle Paul:  “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”  Take these words to heart. Let them be the embers that start a raging fire in your heart to bring the love of God to a lost world. Be zealous for Christ!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, August 8, 2022

When I learned to drive a car, I was not living in Wisconsin. I remember distinctly the first time I was told to use an entrance ramp to get on to a freeway. The instructor reminded me of the merge rules we had studied in class. He said, “Use the ramp to accelerate to freeway speed while checking your mirrors for freeway traffic. Signal your intentions, and then merge into the flow of traffic.” There was even a sign at the end of the ramp that said “Merge”. Years later, when we moved to Wisconsin, I noticed the signs on all the freeway entrance ramps said “Yield”. The highway department has updated their laws since those days, but I never figured out the logic of a yield sign at the end of an entrance ramp. It seemed very dangerous as people would slow down rather than speed up to merge.  

The word yield carries a negative connotation for me. It seems like most of the time, when we talk about yielding, it has to do with giving in. None of us really enjoys doing that. That attitude even carries over into our spiritual lives. For example, recently in my Timothy Training class we were talking about the importance of prayer. I had laid out for them the acrostic of the word pray, and we were talking about each element of a powerful prayer life – Praise; Repent; Ask; Yield.

As we got to the last point, the emphasis was on surrendering to the will of God. It is accurate and advisable to pray with such surrender, as Jesus did when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed. Remember what He asked? “Father, if it is possible, don’t make me go through this.” But do you also remember how He finished His prayer? “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.” That’s yielding. That’s hard.

But this morning I thought about yielding from a different perspective. I guess I’ve been a city boy too long, because I had almost forgotten the other meaning of the word yield – to produce. In fact, of the 23 times the word yield is used in the Bible, 19 times refer to the produce of crops rather than the surrender of self. It seems to me that I’ve been looking at yielding the wrong way.

Again, yielding to God in surrender is essential, but imagine how our prayer lives would change if we used both definitions of yield at the end of our prayers. How much blessing are we missing when we simply focus on what has become the negative attitude of surrender and forget to embrace the positive attitude of harvest? I am just a little bit excited about this. Every prayer we pray should end with the expectation that God is going to produce a bountiful harvest of glory as He accomplishes His will, and we get to share in the harvest.

Just look at what God said to us in Proverbs 8 – “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than fine gold;  what I yield surpasses choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.”

Using those truths of God, maybe it’s time we start ending our prays with faith by saying, “Lord, as I yield to your will, let the fruit of your life and your glory be yielded to me in abundance.” Let’s begin praying with the expectation of God’s yield.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, August 5, 2022

It’s not long after our birth before we begin to attempt to copy the actions of people around us. It starts with a smile. Soon the baby is making noises that imitate what the parent is doing to imitate the baby. After a while there will be hand-waving. It’s not long before emotions are able to be expressed in tantrums and thoughts are able to be expressed in words. Suddenly, before our very eyes, stands a mirror image of ourselves. We don’t always like what we see.  

Today is the day for a word that starts with the letter “x”. Tough assignment. There’s not a lot of selection. But there is a word that connects with our Scripture passage today from Romans 12:2. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” It’s a word from which a major copy machine company chose their name, and in my early days of business and church ministry it was synonymous with copiers. The word is “xerographic”, and the company was Xerox.

The definition of xerographic is this – “a process for copying printed material in which the image of the original material is transferred by the action of light to an electrically charged surface to which the image attracts oppositely charged dry ink particles, which are then fused in place on paper, reproducing the original image.” Sounds complicated, but I see it as a spiritual analogy.

Jesus is the original. God is the Light. My life is the electrically charged surface. The Holy Spirit is the ink. Here’s how I see it working.

Babies are born with both a genetic nature that will dictate some behavior, like crying when hungry, and a blank slate of learned behaviors that will become the expression of their thought process. The same is true of newborn Christians. When we come to Christ, we are born into the family of God and are given the genetic nature of Jesus. His nature will dictate some of our behavior, like hunger for the Word of God. But other behaviors remain our choice, and we learn how to choose to express our thoughts in our words and actions. When we choose to expose our thoughts to the nature of Jesus under the light of God, the Holy Spirit duplicates His nature in us. We become a copy of the original.  We’ve been spiritually Xeroxed.

Unfortunately many of us don’t expose ourselves to the light of God. We choose the nature of the world over the nature of Jesus. We become copies of culture rather than Christ. From my own experience that doesn’t work out very well. I think you know that from your experience also. Copying the behaviors and customs of the world will lead to the end result of the world – destruction and death. But transforming our minds so that our lives become the copy of Christ brings the end result of God – the good and pleasing will of God for an abundant life.

Each one of us must decide who or what we will copy. We have all become the behavioral product of our choice to copy someone. If that choice has led you to become the copy of anyone but Christ, then it’s time for you to expose yourself to the transforming light of God and His truth. You can become the copy of Christ. Let the xerography begin today. Let’s copy Christ.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, August 4, 2022

It’s all about winning. Everything in life is about the experience of victory. From sports to business deals, everyone pursues triumph. Even when we diet, losing is really winning. We were created with an undeniable urge to experience the “thrill of victory” and avoid the “agony of defeat.”

Now before you react negatively to this, think about it carefully. It is not wrong that we focus on winning. The Bible speaks of winning, overcoming, and victory almost 100 times. “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.” (Psalm 60:12)

Sports are one of the Apostle Paul’s favorite metaphors of the Christian experience. “Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5) The passion to win is not a sin. It is only wrong if we think winning defines our worth and if we believe winning in this life is the ultimate victory. An exaggerated emphasis on worldly accomplishments results in ultimate loss, not gain. If a person’s worth is measured by their win/loss percentage, then ultimately at the point of death everything is loss. Even after all of our personal victories in life are counted, death still wins and none of our wins matter: UNLESS death itself can be conquered.

The good news of Jesus Christ is that death has been conquered, and everyone who comes to repentance and faith in Him will ultimately win. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 15 when he said, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The only victory worth training for is that one. The only win worth fighting for is eternity with Jesus Christ. The only true motivation to get up after a defeat and continue fighting for the faith is the knowledge that ultimate victory is ours in Christ. Look at these incredible promises from God:

1 John 5:4-5 “For 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.”

Luke 10:19 “I have given you authority…to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” 

John 16:33 “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.”

Life will be filled with lots of losses. We will suffer rejection from our families and friends because of our faith in Jesus Christ. We will be criticized and even persecuted by our culture because of our stand for moral righteousness and God’s justice. We will suffer financial loss. We will experience emotional loss. There will be deaths in our families. Living life faithfully for Jesus is not easy, and we may experience very few personal victories.

Acts 14:19-22 “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.  But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city…strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.” 

Paul was a great example of how to keep our faith and live it consistently even in the face of death. He was considered dead after the stoning he suffered at Lystra, but he got back up and went right back into the city that had rejected him, putting himself in harm’s way again. Then, after visiting Derbe and winning people to Jesus Christ, he went back to Lystra again to strengthen and encourage the people to remain true to the faith. He modeled to the people how to look beyond the hardships of today to the victory that was coming when Jesus returns.

Death was but the doorway to victory for Paul, and it must be that for us as well. When we see it that way, the fear of worldly loss is consumed in the fire of faith that Jesus Christ has conquered the world. So be encouraged. Do not fear what the world can do to you. Do not fear the loss of worldly gain and worth. Do not fear the people who stand against you because you stand for God. “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.” (1 John 4:4) 

And when you do fall down in defeat, even to the point of death, know this: God’s people, the disciples, will gather around you and encourage you so that you will get back up and go back to doing God’s work. And when one of the faithful disciples you know falls down under the weight of persecution and loss, go to them and take your stand around them so they are encouraged to get back up also. We are not in this alone. God is with us, and God’s people stand beside each other. Remain true to the faith, and let’s fight until Jesus comes and we win!

Pastor John