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