LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 7, 2026
It started with a little slice of skin peeled back on my finger after rubbing against a piece of metal in my shop. It bled only a little, and I ignored it. A scab formed. Two days later I put my hand into my pocket and tore off the scab. I noticed redness around the exposed area. I immediately put antibiotic cream on it to prevent the spread of infection.
There is a serious infection that is spreading through Christianity today. It started with a simple slice of theology by rubbing against cultural acceptance. It spread through the adoption of a simple question to determine the validity of a person’s faith. “Do you believe in God?”
I hear people using the answer to that question as a defense of their secular lifestyle. They say they believe in God but there’s been no transformation of their life. That’s because the infection has covered up the truth that relationship with Jesus Christ is what really matters to God the Father. Believing that God exists has never saved anyone. Believing that God exists is most likely an excuse to not talk about the true spiritual condition of their heart. And we who follow Jesus Christ and are in relationship with him are guilty of spreading the infection when we ask the question, “Do you believe in God?” We will only stop the infection when we put on the antibiotic of Jesus Christ and ask people if they have a relationship with him.
As we continue our study of the phrase “on that day” in Scripture We come to its first use in the New Testament. It’s found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7.. It says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
This statement of Jesus is problematic to many people who either reject it because it doesn’t fit their lifestyle preferences or they begin to doubt the validity of their salvation. Let me simply explain what Jesus is saying.
Jesus is teaching that profession without obedience is empty, and religious activity without relationship is deadly. The decisive mark of a true believer is not impressive spiritual performance but a life shaped by obedience flowing from knowing Christ.
Saying you believe in God is not enough. Doing great spiritual work to prove you are saved is lawlessness when those works are done for personal gain. Only people in relationship with Jesus, who know Him and He knows them, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Through relationship with Jesus we can know and do the will of the Father, and that is all that matters in the final judgement.
Today would be a good day to check to see if you are infected. Today is a perfect day to determine if your church is infected. Have we given in to a cultural mandate to be tolerant of anyone who says they believe in God – any god? Or are we free from that infection and teaching that only those who are in relationship with Jesus Christ and obeying Him are truly saved?
Pastor John
