LifeLink Devotions

Friday, March 31, 2023

On Sunday we will celebrate the “triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem. It is also called “Palm Sunday”, the day when the people of Israel who had gathered for the feast of the Passover waved palm branches before Jesus as he rode a donkey toward the city. The people were hoping that Jesus would be their promised Messiah and deliver them from the oppression of the Roman Empire, establishing God’s Kingdom once and for all. They thought this was the fulfillment of almost 500 years of waiting for the prophecy to be fulfilled. If they had only understood the teaching and ministry of Jesus from God’s perspective, they would have known that it was the time of spiritual deliverance. But instead they had their own purpose in mind and ultimately rejected Jesus. Even His disciples were guilty of unbelief.

But God used the celebration of the people to accomplish His perfect plan for the redemption of the world. Two weeks earlier Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and it caused a major division in the nation of Israel. People who had been neighbors and friends were now secretly either believing in Jesus or reporting His actions to the Pharisees. Some were living in fear that they would be rejected by society for their newly found faith, while most were living in fear that the comfort and benefits of their way of life would be taken from them if Jesus was allowed to gain any more popularity and power. Those in power used hyperbole to accomplish their own objectives, claiming that “the whole world has gone after Him.”  They wanted Jesus dead and were already scheming to see that happen. Even those who claimed to believe in Jesus would eventually succumb to the pressure of the status quo and turn against Jesus.

As I consider the world in which we live I sense that things have not changed. Day after day the Name of Jesus is being attacked by the people of the world who are living in the fear that the comforts and benefits of their sinful way of life are being threatened by the truth of Jesus Christ. Even those who claim to know Jesus and be His followers are rejecting some elements of the truth so they can better fit into modern society and not face rejection or suffering. It seems that the cry of the Pharisees that the whole world has gone after Him is still being heard today, and the plans of the powerful to eliminate Jesus from the world are becoming more elaborate.

But we need to see the good news in all of this: opposition only happens when the opponent feels threatened. For the opponents of Christ to feel threatened they must be observing a “triumphal entry” of sorts of Jesus Christ into their territory. Preachers, evangelists, and missionaries are boldly proclaiming the Name of Jesus and His truth like never before. Churches are filled with vibrant and mature believers who are taking their faith into the workplace and living lives that honor Jesus rather than self. Some are even sacrificing everything they own to take the Gospel to the far reaches of the world, even though they face making the ultimate sacrifice of death to bring life to those who are dead in their sin. The church of Jesus Christ is alive because Jesus is alive, and the world is being threatened.

But there is one more reality that we must face – the world will not lay down their lives for Christ. They will continue to implement more and more schemes designed to eliminate Christ from society, and they will succeed. They will partially succeed when they cause many who claim to believe in Christ to fall away from their faith and turn to the world’s system – and that is already happening. They will claim ultimate success when all the Christians are removed from this earth by Jesus in preparation for His judgment of their sin. But it was not their plan that succeeded; it is God’s plan that is being worked out for His glory, and we are a part of it. The people of the world are not in control, as they think they are. God is!

So don’t be like the people of Jesus’ time, who wave palm branches celebrating their King one day and then succumb to the pressures of their personal comforts and social acceptance the next day. Don’t fall away! Don’t even slip a little. Be faithful! Let’s not only be one of the crowd that goes after Jesus, but one of the few that stays committed to Jesus.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, March 30, 2021

Sometimes I step into a carefully conceived trap that is designed to keep me from fulfilling Christ’s mission. The bait that tempts me to enter the trap is set before me by people who are highly educated according to the world’s standards. The bait is made attractive by its presentation by seemingly credible people in the press. Their believability is part of the trap. For a very short time I take the bait. One morning three “baits” were dished out to me in about 10 minutes of time, and the trap was set.

Bait #1 – Evolutionists claim to have found the missing link. It is the fossil of a fish that appears to have an independently moving head and been able to crawl along the ground, with speculation that it could walk. Scientists claim that it is 360 million years old.

Bait #2 – Scientists claim that in the days of Jesus, there were periods of cold that would have caused ice to form on the Sea of Galilee, thus explaining Jesus’ ability to walk on water.

Bait #3 – Archeologists have discovered an ancient book, supposedly around 1800 years old, which claims that Judas was acting under the direct orders of Jesus when he betrayed Him, and that he was acting as His friend when he did it.

At first reading, you may think that the trap is to believe the bait, but you would be wrong. The bait is never the actual trap. I am not tempted to believe evolution because of the discovery of one fossil that cannot move claiming to prove movement. I am also not tempted to provide natural explanations for the supernatural power of Jesus Christ. I am certainly not prepared to assume the credibility of a newly discovered book when the credibility of the Book of books has already been established. No, the baits are not the trap. The trap is this – to believe that the average person of the world has come to the same conclusions as those who set out the bait, resulting in a loss of desire to fulfill Christ’s mission to share the Gospel with them.

If we begin to believe that the average citizen of our communities is beyond reaching with the love of Jesus, then we have entered Satan’s trap. Granted, the more highly educated by secular reason someone is, the harder it is for the truth to touch them. But we tend to also believe that the more susceptible a person is to the latest trends and discoveries the less likely they are to listen to the truth. That is wrong! The fact that they are listening to all of this “news” means they are searching for truth, and they will listen to our good news as well. Maybe the highly educated and their wannabe’s won’t listen, but God has chosen the average and the weak to confound the so-called wisdom of the world. Look at this important trap-buster from the Apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

There is one key element that must be present in the Christian community so that the truth is able to be validated by the world – unity.  Two times in the prayer of Jesus in John 17 Jesus declares that the world will know that God is real by the unity the followers of Jesus have with Him and with one another. When we live that way, Jesus declares that the average people of the world will know that God not only sent Jesus but also loves them in the same way that He loves His Son. Our unity is the key to the accomplishment of our mission. We are to live in unity with Jesus and in unity with each other. When we do, we become the attractant God uses to bring people into the truth and avoid a trap. Live your life in such a way that the world knows you are sent by God.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Most successful businesses have a mission statement. Sometimes you will even see it posted in a prominent place in their business. These businesspeople understand that to be successful they have to know who they are and what they want to accomplish. Mission statements have become so important that there are now businesses whose sole purpose is to help other businesses write mission statements.There are even several web sites designed to help individuals write personal mission statements to guide their personal lives. All these businesses understand one simple truth – life without mission is meaningless. Or, as Proverbs 29:18 puts it, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”

Jack Welch, the chairman of General Electric, says, “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”  I believe that’s what the Gospel of John is all about in the New Testament – Jesus Christ owning and articulating God’s vision, and relentlessly driving it to completion. In the book of John the words “sent me” are used by Jesus 33 times to declare the mission the Father had chosen for Him. Twice Jesus states that He is sending us in the same way. (John 17:18; John 20:21) It seems that it would be wise for us to study the mission of Christ so that we may better define our mission for Christ.

For the last few days we have studied the mission of Jesus to model to the world the love of God. In today’s Scripture passage we see another aspect of His mission – to tell the world the truth about God.

John 17:13-19 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”

Christ’s purpose was to accomplish three things:

1.      So that we may be filled with joy. Joy is a product of knowing the truth. There is a serious reason why there isn’t more joy in the church today. According to George Barna Research, 68% of all evangelical born-again Christians do not believe in absolute truth. Just think, 7 out of every 10 people sitting in our churches today do not believe that there is even one absolute truth in the world. No wonder there isn’t much joy – people’s lives are filled with fear, not knowing truth. Christ’s mission was to tell us the truth so that we could be filled with joy.

2.      So that we may be holy. Jesus says that when we receive His word as truth we will no longer belong to the world, just as He did not belong to the world. Christ’s mission was to distinguish us from sinful society and defend us from satanic stimulus. His sacrificial death on the cross as a holy substitute for our sin makes it possible for us to be transformed by the truth into a holy child of God, set apart from the world for a sacred purpose.

3.      So that we may be sent on a mission. Once we have accepted the truth and been filled with the strength to resist the world because of the joy of our salvation, we are qualified to be sent as the personal emissaries of the King. Jesus says that He will send us on His mission “just as the Father sent Him on His.” God sent Jesus as truth, holy and protected from the evil one. He sends us the same way.

So why not write a personal mission statement from what you learned today. Here’s mine:

“I rejoice in the truth which has made me holy, safe from the world to which I do not belong, and I present my life as a living sacrifice to God so that others might be see the love of God in me, be made holy by the same truth, and be filled with the joy of salvation.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

1 John 4:10 “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 

Romans 5:8 “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”  

What is real love? It seems that people are becoming less and less capable of answering that question. In the lifestyles section of the Chicago Sun Times  an article appeared entitled “Gen X Women Talk About Living Single” and its author, Maureen Jenkins, asks the question, “Why is finding true love these days like searching for the Holy Grail?” It seems that the basic philosophy of love has become very self-centered. Love is not about giving but about getting. Sex has become the definition of love and the means to achieve it. “It’s little wonder,” she says, “that we’re wandering aimlessly in a relationship wasteland,” she says.

Jillian Straus, author and former producer of the Oprah show states, “We tend to see compromise as a bad thing in our generation because we’re so independent. You think you can custom order someone to your specifications and it doesn’t work that way.” One of the three Chicago area women who were interviewed for the article is Dionne Lang, 32, a Naperville commercial real estate agency owner, and when asked what her plan was to finally find true love she said, “…just date more. If you get into a car accident, do you never drive again? No. You just get right back in the car. Date, date, date as much as possible. And throw ’em back if they’re no good.”

Pretty sad, huh? The people of today’s world are lost when it comes to understanding love, and it’s because they are lost. They are unable to experience human relational love because they have not experienced God’s redeeming love. How awesome is the love of God when contrasted to the philosophy of the world. He chose to love us even when we had not chosen to love Him. People today only respond to the love they receive. God initiated love when no response was present. People today love only the good and throw the rest away. God loves everyone equally and completely. People today love others only so long as the personal benefits remain. God loves for eternity and guarantees it to us.

Culture today doesn’t understand that kind of commitment. When asked about commitment, Fiona Verde, a 30-something radio talk show host said, “We aren’t necessarily a generation that truly understands the concept of commitment at any level. We don’t keep jobs more than a couple years.”  Dionne Lang had an interesting response to that. She said, “Sometimes I wonder because the divorce rate is so high, maybe the men we’re dating were brought up in broken homes. Many of the morals and values of the family have been diluted.”  People today don’t have enough real love role models.

Our mission to love is no different than Christ’s mission to love – we are to be the models of real love to a lovesick world. The only way to cure the worldwide disease of lovesickness is to inoculate people with the love of God. By the power of Christ’s love in us we not only can but must choose to love the people of the world regardless of personal benefit or response. We must love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. Real love is not about serving self, but rather serving others. May we accept God’s mission for our lives and be the light of real love that they need to see.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, March 27, 2023

1 John 4:9-10 “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  ¹⁰This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 

Please allow me to generalize about something to make a point. In general, men understand a mission better than women. We’re just wired that way by God’s design. There are exceptions, but overall men are more outcome oriented than women. Consider the day after Thanksgiving. It’s 4:30 a.m., and men and women are rising out of bed. The women are putting on comfortable shoes and light layers of clothes for a long day of walking, looking to spend bucks.  The men are putting on warm boots and heavy layers of clothes for a long day of sitting in the woods, looking to shoot bucks. The women are shopping. The men are hunting. Shopping is not a mission. If you have a list, and you go after only what’s on the list, and stop when the list is complete, you have been on a mission. The women in my family may have lists, but they are still shoppers, coming home with items that weren’t on the list and without items that were. Shopping involves spontaneity and self-indulgence. Mission requires sacrifice and focus. The men may come home without a deer, but they have not spent any time looking for anything else. They may have seen other game, but they stayed focused on their mission. Men don’t shop for deer, they hunt. We understand mission.

Now before you start throwing a tantrum and calling me sexist, let me assure you that there are times when I understand shopping and times that my wife sticks to a mission. The point is this – a mission has a specific objective. The dictionary definition of mission is “to be sent on a specific assignment.” Jesus Christ was sent on a mission with a specific purpose – to sacrifice Himself to save people from their sin. His mission was conceived in the heart of God who loved those who did not love Him. He accepted His mission as His own, and determined to fulfill it at all cost, so that the mission Commander would be honored. He surrendered His own rights and privileges for the sake of the mission objective and was willing to sacrifice His life on behalf of the mission’s benefactors – you and me. Jesus was not shopping, subject to spontaneous decisions and self-serving outcomes; He was on a mission, focused on one objective, and surrendered to the will and ways of His Commander.

Jesus successfully completed His mission when He died on the cross, and God honored Him for it by raising Him from the dead and making Him the new Commander-in-Chief of the spiritual army called the Church. As the Commander, Jesus has given us a mission. We have been given a list by Christ that includes three items: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; love your neighbor as yourself; and go into all the world and make disciples. The question is do we consider this a shopping list or a mission? Many Christians have decided to be shoppers.  They may carry the list with them, but they spend most of their day looking for bargains that will make their own life more enjoyable. If they happen to see an opportunity to accomplish something on their list, they may take the time to do it, but their primary focus is self-centered not Christ-centered. They are not on a mission.

Far too few of us have determined to accept the mission Jesus has given us and stick to it. We have decided to submit to the authority of the Commander and not be our own authority. We have made the choice to make every minute of every day count toward the accomplishment of the mission objectives. We have surrendered our personal goals and desires for the sake of Christ’s outcomes in the lives of others. We are on a mission.

One quick illustration of this truth will suffice. Years ago I was sharing with someone about our church’s mission to travel to the Louisiana bayou helping our sister church recover from Hurricane Katrina. This person was shocked, stating that they would never put themselves or their family at such risk of disease and infection that could be passed on to children and grandchildren when they returned home. She was a shopper. I want to be a missionary. Which are you going to be?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, March 24, 2023

As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday I want to focus on the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ to the lost world. Resurrection Sunday is the high point of the Christian calendar because it commemorates the once-for-all conquering of death by Jesus Christ and confirms the possession of eternal life for all who repent of their sins and receive Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. It was the fulfillment of Christ’s mission to the world. It was the beginning of ours.

Christ’s mission to the world began as an expression of the love of God for undeserving people who because of sin had been separated from relationship with Him.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost in their sin. Then, in an incomparable act of love, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It is in this demonstration of love that the grace of God is visible to mankind and the power of God is released for the salvation of people. Jesus himself affirmed this in John 15:13 when He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

As we consider our mission to the world we should begin where Jesus began – by loving the world. The Apostle John confirms this is 1 John 4:7-12, where he writes, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 

More than anything else, what the world needs to see is the love of God being modeled by the people who claim to love God. When we love, we not only personally experience the complete love of God, but we also become the visible proof of God that the lost world needs to see. And believe me, they are looking.

One day I was in one of our large retail superstores in Eau Claire, and I heard a very loud voice coming from several aisles over. A woman was yelling at another family member about something they had forgotten to pick up, and she proceeded to verbally belittle the young man. Her criticisms and crude language were very hurtful and offensive. I was headed that direction anyway, so I looked to see who they were as I walked by. When I reached the aisle where they were standing, I saw the woman who had been yelling, and she had on a t-shirt that shocked me. It said, “Jesus, Lover of my Soul.” There were several other people who were also looking at her in disbelief. My first thought was to inject myself into the situation and ask her if she felt like she was a good model of the love of Jesus, but I resisted and moved on. But the Holy Spirit didn’t leave me alone. He asked me to look at my own behavior and make sure I was modeling His love. I knew I had some work to do, especially in those times when the stresses of life sap my physical energy and stretch my emotional strength. I’m sure you can relate.

As we consider the mission of Jesus to the world, and our participation in that mission, let’s begin where He began – with love. The apostle Paul says, “If I speak in the tonguesof men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

As we make our way through this day, may the world be able to say that they saw the love of God in us.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Someday. That word begins many of our thoughts and our spoken sentences. We use it to express goals and ambitions. When I was young, I had a lot of somedays. Someday I will be a doctor. Someday I will be a Coast Guard officer. Someday I will be a pilot. Someday I will be a missionary.

We use someday to express hope. Someday the snow will be gone. Someday I will play golf again. Someday I will get to go fishing on open water. Someday the Lord Jesus is coming back.

We also use the word someday to express hurtful thoughts. Someday they will get what’s coming to them. Someday I will pay them back.

That could have been the attitude of Joseph. Sold into bondage and considered dead by his brothers, and reported as dead to his father, he ends up in a foreign land as a slave. Resentment and bitterness could have easily been his choice. Plans for revenge could have occupied his thoughts. “Someday I will use my power to teach them a lesson they will never forget. I will pay them back.”

We would not have any trouble identifying with Joseph had he done that. We have done it. It would validate our own choices. But that was not the choice Joseph made. He chose a different someday.

Genesis 45:3-8  “And Joseph said to his brothers…“I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors…So it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

I think Joseph chose the most honorable someday anyone can ever choose. He chose to say, “Someday I will return good to those who hurt me and use whatever was intended for harm to produce a blessing.”

That’s what faith looks like – faith in the absolute sovereignty of God. Joseph had faith in the promises of God and the character of God to fulfill those promises without fail. He had faith in the timetable of God: not only is everything for a Divine purpose but also fits perfectly into a divine plan. He had faith enough to endure unjustified suffering multiple times, and like his prophesied Messiah he never retaliated or spoke a word of defense or hurt in return. Joseph had the authority to do whatever he wanted with his brothers when they came to him for help, but he did not do it. He worked out a plan that eventually brought the whole family under his protection while gently teaching them to admit where they had been wrong.

Oh how much like our Savior that is! God the Father, in His eternal love for those He created in His image, has the power and authority to do with us whatever He chooses and our sin deserves, yet He patiently waited for the Someday when He would send His Son to do good for us while gently teaching us to admit where we were wrong. That is the glory of the Gospel – Jesus Christ willingly suffering unjustly for those that He intends to save.

Someday I will get that right. Someday I will stop trying to get ahead, or at least get even. Someday I will be strong enough to endure whatever is said about me or done to me and trust God to work it all out according to His plan and in His time.

“Lord, I choose someday to be today.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

We are surrounded by it. We are constantly confronted with visual images that immediately connect with pride’s pursuit of personal pleasure. From television commercials to regular programming, it’s almost impossible to spend more than five minutes watching anything without either innuendo about it or clear and corrupt communication flaunting it. It covers the magazines at the grocery check-out counter. It pops up in totally unrelated ads on the sides of our Facebook pages. It is not an assumption to say that it sells. We allow it to. We choose to pay attention to it. We are silent about its presence in our lives but even more silent in public about our superficial stand against it.

Fornication is the term that best describes it, even though it is an outdated word according to modern culture. Its definition has been revised to include words like freedom, personal choice, and sexual expression leading to greater fulfillment. But call it what you will, it is outright rebellion against God. It is wickedness and sin.

It comes in many forms, but it all starts in the heart of a person who allows the lust of the flesh to become a choice to gratify self. Sexual expression and sexual experiences of any kind outside of the bond of marriage between one woman and one man is an abomination to the Lord God. Every form of lust and sexual expression other than God’s ordained type of marriage defiles us.

Strong words I know, but they are not mine. Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:19-20) Paul said, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5) And Peter said, “The Lord knows how to … keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones.” (2 Peter 2:9-10)

The Apostle Paul has more words about this in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”  And the writer of Hebrews says this – “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4)

It is about time that the people who call themselves followers of Christ begin to deal with the issue of secret sexual sin, and become so convinced of Christ’s saving power from all sin that they are able to proclaim as Joseph did in the face of sexual temptation, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9)

It starts by cleaning up and renewing our minds. How can we say or even desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit when we have made an intentional choice to hang on to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. We lust in our minds based on what we have seen and done in the past. We lust with our eyes based on what we want to see again. And it is all motivated by the pride of life that compels us to seek personal gratification because we do not really believe that Jesus Christ is sufficient to fill us and fulfill our lives.

It may not be possible to avoid every display of sexuality in the world around us, but we can certainly say no to every temptation to let it into our hearts and minds. We can turn away, turn off, and turn around every time it presents itself. That is the promise of victory over every sin as we walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. (Read Romans 8:1-11)

So let’s all begin today to have the heart of Joseph, and no matter what society says, recognize that we are all ultimately responsible to God. Every sin is first and foremost against Him.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Is not the picture of Christ becoming more and more clear in the life of Joseph? Do you see the nature of the Perfect Servant manifest itself in the response of one who loves the Lord to the injustice thrust upon him? Are we not strengthened and encouraged for the reality of our own lives when we see the faithfulness of God to sustain and strengthen those who are faithful to the Holy Spirit in them?

The deeper I go into this incredible study of the life of Joseph, the more I am confronted with my own pride that seeks to protect myself and to be known by taking the side of righteousness. I am convicted of my motives for arguing right and wrong, which many times are just to prove I’m right so I can validate myself. Yet here, in this simple life of Joseph, I see Jesus, our supreme Example of how to walk in an evil world.

Joseph was described as a handsome man in both form and appearance. Potiphar’s wife took notice, and while her husband was busy running the country, she wanted some attention and sought it from this Hebrew slave. She tried to use her position and his bondservant obligations to satisfy her own pleasures. Joseph refused, and in her fear of being discovered she took the offensive and falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape. Her husband believed her, and had Joseph thrown into prison.

Genesis 39:20  “And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.”

“That’s not fair!” We cry out against such injustice, and well we should, for it stands in opposition to the spirit of holiness and justice we have received from the Lord. But we have also received the mind of Christ who humbled himself to suffer unjustly on our behalf. (Phil. 2) Consider the picture of Jesus in Joseph’s response to injustice:

• Both were tempted but did not sin;
• Both resisted the temptation three times;
• Both were falsely accused;
• Both remained silent in their own defense;
• Both accepted the punishment they did not deserve;
• Both punishments purchased freedom;
• Both imprisonments – Joseph’s literal and Christ’s spiritual – pronounced judgment.

Read the story again in Genesis 39-41. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the incredible truths of redemption. See the practical and prophetic applications of Christ’s life lived amid injustice.

Oh that our lives would first and foremost embrace the life of Christ that willingly sacrifices self for the sake of others. Then and only then may we confidently and correctly address the injustice around us with the right motives – motives of humility, not pride.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, March 20, 2023

I saw a funny post on Facebook. It was a picture of a young woman sitting on the floor with her head in her hands. The caption read “The first five days of the weekend are the hardest.”

Mondays are tough for many people because it means back to work after one or two days off. We tend to live for self. We serve our employer out of obligation and necessity, but we set our sights on the times we get to do what we think makes us happy. We endure work so we can reach playtime.

May I suggest to you that as followers of Jesus Christ we choose a different perspective?

Genesis 39:3-4 “His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.”

You see, work is not cursed. God gave Adam work to do in the Garden before Eve was even created, let alone sin showing up on the scene. God ordained work as good and meaningful for man. It was a part of His perfect creation designed to bring abundance to man’s existence.

Consistently in Scripture we read of people who worked hard and were blessed. We hear the Apostle Paul saying, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.”

Only one conclusion can be drawn from the preponderance of evidence in the Bible – your work matters to God and He expects you to do it well, even on Mondays.

Joseph wasn’t in the ideal job. He wasn’t even in his place of choice. It was all forced upon him by the evil intentions of others. Yet Joseph did three things that we can connect with:

1. He accepted his position as the current choice of God for His life, knowing that God’s presence brings God’s blessing.
2. He let everyone around Him see that the Lord was with him.
3. He did any job he was given with excellence, and he found favor with his master.

So rather than sit around with your head in your hands dreading the return to work, start thanking God that you have work and that He is at work in your life. Instead of complaining about your boss, impress him with your excellence. Someone has said that the reason the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence is that you are spending too much time there watering it when you should be watering your own grass.

So get to work – and do it well. It is God’s will for you.

Pastor John