LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, May 15, 2025

In Isaiah chapter three the Lord is teaching us that we allow people and things to compete with Him for the priority position of our life. And He won’t stand for it. He loves us too much to allow us to believe that any person or thing can compete with Him. Yet we continue to trust others to provide for our emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. So God made a list of people and things that we allow to compete with Him and tells us He is going to work in our lives to remove them. Yesterday we saw the first five. Here’s the rest of the list.

• Elder – This is simply a person with wisdom gained from years of experience. Some of us trust in our parents or grandparents way too much. Some have found other older and wiser people to be their “go-to” person. There is Biblical support for such mentoring, but not to the extent that some people do. Don’t let the wisdom of your elders become the source of your wisdom. What they say still has to be in line with what God has already said.
• People of Position and Honor – The Captain of fifty and the man of rank – I used to think it was really cool to talk about important people I had met. I discovered I was simply trying to hitchhike on their reputations to improve my own status. I was guilty of letting other people qualify me. Only Jesus Christ can do that.
• Counselors – Nothing hurtful intended here towards those who are counselors, but people have become far too dependent upon them. Sometimes…not always…but sometimes, I think that the counseling becomes a bondage that perpetuates the problem. In Christ there is deliverance and freedom.
• Skilled Craftsman – Many people depend on the quality and quantity of possessions. They are nice people because they have nice things. But who are they after a fire or an accident? Possessions cannot bring contentment, but Christ can.
• Clever Enchanters – King James Version says “Eloquent Orator”. Actually, according to the Hebrew, the two need to be combined. These are the Eloquent Enchanters of our day. One example is our politicians. Many have put their hope and trust in them because they know how to appeal to our emotions. Don’t let clever communication corrupt you and turn you from Christ.

Again, Christ has no competition. But we have elevated the inferior to a position of equality with Christ and Jesus won’t put up with it. Isaiah has laid it out clearly – “Don’t trust in man or man’s things.” Now it’s up to you to decide what keeps you from trusting Christ completely.

Pastor John