LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, May 20, 2025

“Hurry up, please. I want it now. I’m tired of waiting. I’ve had enough. I’m ready to be done with this. Haven’t I struggled long enough? Haven’t I put up with enough junk in my life? Isn’t it time for me to enjoy some down time and relax a little?”

I’m pretty sure we’ve all said those things. Yesterday we read a wonderful promise from God – “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” The question is, “When is the enjoyment going to begin?”

As we read on into chapter four of Isaiah, we get the answer. It will happen “In that day.”

“In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.” (Isaiah 4:2)

In what day? In the day that the Branch of the Lord is revealed. There is a day coming when the fruit of our righteousness will be delivered to us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What a day, glorious day, that will be.

• It will be a day when pride is destroyed (Isaiah 2:12).
• It will be a day when materialism and trust in wealth will be abolished (Isaiah 2:20).
• In that day there will be a recognition of the incompetence of man to govern himself and the ineffectiveness of political power (Isaiah 3:7)
• It will be a day when external beauty and image will become irrelevant, and the truth of one’s spiritual condition will be revealed (Isaiah 3:18-26)

The Day of the Lord is coming. According to Scripture it will be a day when Jesus Christ returns to earth to establish His kingdom on earth. He will come with the armies of heaven to destroy all his earthly and heavenly enemies. He will bring the glory of God back to Jerusalem. He will bring His bride – the born-again members of His church that were previously raptured from the earth – and we will reign with Him on the earth and over its people. In that day, we will enjoy the fruit of our deeds as we reign with Jesus Christ the King.

I know, for some of you that sounds like a long way off and life is too tough right now to think that far ahead. But we must. We must fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. It was the joy of His reign that was set before Him and gave Him the strength to endure all the suffering of the cross.

Others that have gone before us have looked ahead to that Day and have endured to the end. They are now the witnesses whose lives tell us we can also persevere if we will just throw off the weights of this world and the sins of the flesh and run toward that day.

When we consider what Jesus endured to get to the inconceivable joy of the finish line, and what others have endured by faith in the same God who will give us the same glory, we must not lose heart. We must continue to press on towards the prize of the high calling we have in Christ Jesus.

My friends, there is a day coming – maybe very soon the way the world is going today – when we will enjoy the fruit of faithful and righteous labor for the coming King. Be strong. Be courageous. The Lord your God is with you, and the work He has started in you will be carried out to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.

Pastor John