Monthly Archives: December 2024

GIFTS THAT SHOW LOVE

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LifeLink Devotional for Wednesday, December 4, 2024

The holiday hype is here. Every day people are shopping in stores and on-line for the best gift at the best price. Literally billions of dollars will be spent in America alone during the remaining days before Christmas. It is the season of giving gifts as an expression of love, or at least it’s supposed to be.

The emphasis that is placed on the value of the gift rather than on the heart of the giver makes me wonder if love has anything to do with Christmas anymore. We ask people for lists of what they want, but we spend very little time if any making lists for ourselves of what we think would be meaningful to them. Anticipation and surprise have been eliminated from the Christmas celebration. We know in advance what we are getting because our lists were specific. Why do I need to bother with buying the present at all? Just tell me how much it costs, and I’ll give you the cash, if it fits into my budget. Then I don’t have to go shopping.

If I do go shopping, I want to buy a gift that does two things –show you that I know you well enough to know what you really need and show you that I love you enough to spend whatever it takes to meet your need.

That’s how God first modeled giving for all of us. Listen to the New Living Translation of Romans 5:12-17.

“What a difference between our sin and God’s generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s bountiful gift.  And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

Adam sinned and brought death to all mankind. Adam was aware of his need, and even made a list of how he thought his need could be met. On the list were two things – a hideout and some fig leaves.

But God saw his real need, and in His love He determined to meet that need regardless of the cost. And the cost was great! God met Adam’s need of forgiveness by giving the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, whom He promised to Eve when He said that her offspring would crush the head of Satan one day.

Then, in an act of symbolic sacrifice indicating the price Christ would pay for their forgiveness, God killed animals to provide the skins as clothing Adam and Eve needed to cover their shame. Everything God did was an act of love to meet the real needs of the ones He loved.

God’s gift of forgiveness through the gift of His Son became the expression of the unconditional love He had for His children. God showed He knew them well enough to know what they really needed and that He loved them enough to spend whatever it took to meet their need.

That’s how gifts should show our love to people. We should be picking out gifts that show how well we know them and how meeting their need is more important than our budget.

Be creative this year. It’s risky, because someone may return your gift. Your expression of love may not be understood or accepted. God took that risk. That’s what true love does. Let’s put love back into giving gifts at Christmas. That’s how it all started – with a true gift of love.

Pastor John

BE DIFFERENT

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LifeLink Devotional for Tuesday, December 3, 2024

It is an unfortunate tendency of human nature to become self-sufficient. The accomplishment of goals leads to pride in our abilities. The accrual of resources leads to dependence upon those resources. The pursuit of social status becomes the means of measuring success. We are never quite satisfied with the essentials, so we choose to live by faith in self rather than faith in God.

The shepherds in the Christmas story were different. Their profession was religiously despised in their culture. Because of their constant contact with the animals, they were not allowed to participate in any religious activities and were certainly never allowed inside the temple to worship. They were forced to live in the fields with their flocks, never owning their own homes or achieving an acceptable level of social status. Such conditions would cause most of us to develop a new life plan or hire a new life coach. We would look intently and lustfully at the greener grass on the next pasture, and it would not be for the benefit of the sheep.

But these shepherds were different. They had not only accepted their position in society, but they worshiped God where they were. They had some good examples from their culture’s past to follow: Moses spent 40 years tending sheep before he was called by God in a burning bush to lead Israel out of Egypt. David was a shepherd boy who had a heart for God and accepted his position. Psalms 78:70 – 72 says,“God chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”

The shepherds in our story lived the greatest faith anyone can ever live – God-sufficiency. God saw their humble state and He honored them with the first and only public announcement of the birth of Jesus.

Luke 2:8 – 12  8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Humility is the prerequisite of honor.

But we must be careful, because honor can destroy humility. Honor can become the means we use to set new goals and seek new status. But these shepherds were different. After they had gone and seen the King and worshipped Him in person, the Scriptures say that they returned to their flocks and carried on where they were. We never hear of them again. There was no attempt to use their personal experience to advance their personal status in any way.

That will be true of all who are humble, no matter how honored they have been. Why? Because the humble understand that it’s all about Jesus and His glory, and not about us and our glory.

Jesus honored the humility of the shepherds 32 years later when He spoke these words: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

One day Jesus will honor all of us. Be careful of trying to seek honor for yourself. Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  

The shepherds were different. They did nothing to get noticed. God found them and honored their humility.

He will find you! 

Pastor John

RESIST THE GLITTER

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LifeLink Devotional for Monday, December 2, 2024

Welcome to our Christmas series of devotionals as we daily contemplate the significance of Christ Jesus coming to earth.

In Matthew chapter four, Jesus prepares to begin His three-year ministry to the people of Israel and bring them the good news of God’s salvation, Satan attempts to thwart God’s plan. He tempts Jesus to take His eyes off God’s purpose for His life and turn them to the things of the world. He tempts Jesus with His physical needs by trying to get Him to focus on His hunger. He tempts Jesus to promote Himself in the eyes of people by telling Him to use His power and authority to do a miracle to impress people. Then Satan tempts Jesus to worship him with the promise of a gift. Satan says he will make Jesus the ruler of all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will bow to him. Fortunately for all of us, Jesus resisted all these temptations and waited for God’s perfect fulfillment of His purpose in His time.

Jesus was convinced that His Father would provide for His physical needs because He was focused on accomplishing the Father’s purpose and not His own. Jesus knew that His Father would one day glorify Him in front of all mankind, so He did not need to exalt Himself in front of people. Jesus also knew that one day God would make Him ruler of all the kingdoms of the world, and that by accepting that honor from Satan it would only make Satan the ultimate ruler and not God. Jesus knew that the gifts that God had promised, even though they required great endurance and patience to be realized, would be far greater than any immediate gratification provided by Satan’s competing gifts.

Every day Satan competes for our loyalty by offering us gifts that promise immediate gratification. Every day we are tempted to sacrifice our worship of the Lord on the altar of personal pursuits and pleasures. Every day we are tempted to serve self rather than God. Satan offers benefits that appeal to the physical, emotional, and financial goals of our flesh. Satan pursues us because he knows that if we accept his offers we will become his best servants: not because we are evil, but because our choice does the most damage to the cause of Christ.

The testimony we give to the power of the Gospel to transform lives is negated by the person who claims Christ but lives under the influence of the flesh. Such a person is Satan’s best employee. In exchange for his gifts of worldly pleasure, power and prosperity they have become Satan’s servants and have made a mockery of the gift of God.

Do you remember the old television game show called Let’s Make A Deal? Every one of us is a contestant on the spiritual version of that show. Two gifts have been offered, and you must choose.

Gift #1 has been fully revealed to us. It offers the guarantee of eternal life following an earthly life of surrender to Christ. It will require suffering, hardship, trials, trouble, and rejection by the rest of the world. But in the end, we are glorified with Jesus and inherit all things with Him.

Gift #2 has also been fully revealed, but for some reason most people choose not to see beyond the immediate glitter that they see. The gift offers wealth untold, acceptance by the world, and the promise that personal pleasure will fulfill all emotional and spiritual needs. Behind all that glitter is the sentence of death and punishment in hell for all eternity. But glitter blinds us. It is so appealing to our flesh that we are willing to gamble our lives on the hope that the experience of the glitter will somehow void the consequences of our choice. That’s why so many people keep choosing gift #2 – and losing.

If you’ve never chosen gift #1, today can be your day. Call on Jesus to save you.

If you have chosen gift #1, make sure you aren’t tempted to trade it in for any part of gift #2. Check your life right now and make sure, like Jesus did, that you resist the glitter and worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

Pastor John