LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, January 5, 2023

The more I study God’s Word, and the more I experience of earthly life, the more I understand that everything depends upon faith. The significance of the verse in Hebrews that says “Without faith it is impossible to please God” increases every day. Those who walk by sight, in human reason and understanding, are growing more and more miserable, while those who walk by faith in God’s promises are escaping the corruption of the world.

Unfortunately, for most of us, there are days when we feel captured by corruption. We get mauled by misery. We feel discouraged because we are discontent and filled with unfulfilled desires. We appear more dead than divine. How depressing!

We should not expect more from a sinful nature. The fact is everything in God’s magnificent creation follows its nature. Plant seeds of corn and you will get corn plants and corn cobs. Put a bull and a cow in a pen and you’ll get a calf. Put a tiger and a lamb in a pen and you’ll get a full tiger. Everything follows its nature.

When reason is added, mankind can alter nature. People can become imitators and deceivers, covering who they really are with behaviors that mislead the observer. But in essence they are only expressing their corrupt nature, which is captivated with self. Man cannot change the nature of anything. He cannot create a new nature.

But God can, and He does for everyone who has faith in His Son Jesus and in His promises.

2 Peter 1:4  “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

This is an incredible truth. Let me paraphrase the words of the apostle Peter:

** “God has called us to live according to His nature and not ours.”

** “His call is not because of our glory, but His.”

** “His call is not based on our goodness, but on His.”

** “Because of His glory and goodness, He has given us very great and precious promises.”

** “When by faith we believe His promises, we may participate in the divine nature of Jesus Christ.”

Of the 2000 promises in Scripture, here are my top five –

1. The unconditional forgiveness of my sin when I believe on Jesus Christ who died on the cross as my substitute and suffered the full wrath of God against sin. (1 John 1:9; Colossians 2:13-15)

2. The guaranteed gift of eternal life in God’s glorious presence in heaven and that He is coming soon to remove us from this world and take us there. (1 Peter 1:3; John 14:6)

3. The creation of a new nature in me – the nature of Jesus Christ – that allows me to escape the chains of corruption in this evil world. (2 Cor. 5:17; Colossians 1:27)

4. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit who empowers the nature of Jesus to live abundantly in and through me. (Titus 3:4-7)

5. The absolute acceptance of my life by God because of the new nature He has given me. He has qualified me to share His Son’s eternal inheritance. No longer do I need to strive to bring value to my life. No longer do I need to prove my worth or earn my acceptance with anyone. (Colossians 1:12-14)

Oh, how I pray that you understand this. You have not been given the responsibility to change your nature. You have not been given a new set of rules to try to obey. You have not been made accountable to a group of people to measure up to their standards. In Christ, you have been given the promise of a new divine nature. You have been given the faith to believe God’s promises. By faith you may believe it is true and then live like you believe it.

Peter’s statements agree completely with Paul’s, who wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

In Christ you are a new creation. All the old things have passed away, and all things have been made new. Stop living according to what is dead. You have a new nature. Follow it.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

January 9 will be a big day for young adults in Japan. It will be Coming of Age Day, the national holiday held to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority (20 years old) over the past year, and to help them realize that they have become adults. Coming of Age Day means that 20-year-olds can vote, drink and marry without parental permission, but at the same time, are also subject to all laws and social responsibilities.

The ages may vary, as will the ceremonies, but every culture has some way of recognizing young people’s passing from childhood into adulthood. Connected to the recognition of maturity is accountability. Accountability is based on one’s ability to be personally responsible for one’s choices and actions.

The Japanese have chosen the age of 20 to recognize accountability in their citizens. In the United States we recognize different ages for different responsibilities. Young people can drive when their 14, 15 or 16, depending on the state in which they reside. They can vote when they are 18. They can drink when they are 21. And I haven’t yet figured out our judicial system because there’s no consistency in when they are responsible for criminal activity.

Religions also have their age of accountability practices. For many it is between the ages of 10 and 14. It is at this age that they believe the maturity process reaches a point where a child’s value system is now becoming his or her own and they are now responsible for the choices that accompany maturity. It is at this stage of emotional and intellectual development that many believe children come of age spiritually.

From the moment of birth a child is completely equipped to be an adult, unless some tragic disease or disorder as altered their genetic ability to mature. Every building block is in place for the child to come of age. The process of moving from infancy to adolescence to adult maturity takes a long time, but all the necessary elements are in place from the moment of conception for that process to be completed. The only thing lacking is knowledge – knowledge of the system and people to whom they are accountable.

The same is true of any person who comes to Jesus Christ for salvation. From the moment of their spiritual birth, the Holy Spirit conceives in them everything they need for life and godliness. All that is lacking is knowledge – knowledge of the God to whom they are accountable.

2 Peter 1:3  “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

There are two points I would like to make to help you connect to this truth.

• First, as a believer in Jesus, you have everything you need right now to live a godly life. The Holy Spirit has granted to you the complete spiritual DNA of Jesus Christ. Unlike physical conception and birth, there has never been nor can there ever be a genetic failure in the realm of spiritual birth. The Holy Spirit perfectly completes the born-again experience in the life of every person who repents of their sin and confesses Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The maturity process may vary in each person, but the building blocks are all there equally in everyone.
• Second, we spend far too much time praying for what we already possess and not doing what is necessary to fully mature. I find only one thing in Scripture the maturity for which we are to ask – wisdom. (James 1:5) Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge. If we already possess all the spiritual building blocks to live godly lives, then it seems clear that the request we should be making to God is for more knowledge of Him, so that we receive more wisdom to apply to the areas of our life that are already receptive to maturity. Your spiritual DNA is already in place. It just needs to be set free to accomplish the growth God built into it.

Take some time to deeply reflect on that last point. The power of God has already given you everything you need for a life that honors Him. Stop asking for patience. Stop begging for peace. Don’t cry out to God for the things He has already given you. Instead, recognize that your life already holds the Living Water. All that’s lacking is the growing knowledge of God so that the water can purify you and bubble out of your life onto others. Ask God to increase your knowledge of Him – specifically of His love and grace. You will be excited to see that you are coming of age.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

2 Peter 1:2  “May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.”

The more you know the more you grow.

The more you grow the more you show.

The more you show the more you stow.

The more you stow the more you overflow.

The more you overflow the more you bestow.

The more you bestow the more you sow.

The more you sow the more others grow.

May you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, so that you overflow with grace and peace, causing others to grow.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, January 2, 2023

Well our study of First Peter is complete. But Peter still has more to teach us. Let’s dive into Second Peter and see what more we can learn to become mature in our faith and equipped to serve King Jesus.

2 Peter 1:1  “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:” 

There are times when we wonder if our faith would be stronger if only we had been able to walk with Jesus on the earth. There may even be an element of envy that arises in our hearts when we consider the faith experiences of others compared to our own. On occasion we even succumb to the temptation to believe that some people in the family of God are more blessed than others. This may cause us to question our value. We may begin to wonder if we are all that precious.

The Apostle Peter makes an incredible statement in the opening verse of his second letter to the Christians of the first century. You remember Peter. He walked and talked with Jesus. He was a first-hand witness of His resurrection. While at a public breakfast meeting on a beach he was appointed by Jesus to feed and care for His other followers. He was tempestuous. He had to be rebuked. He was courageous. He had to be slowed down. He feared what people thought of Him. He denied knowing Christ. He was forgiven.

Most of us would tend to place guys like Peter, along with John and Paul, on a different plane of faith than ourselves. When we mention anything about all of the heroes of the faith listed in Hebrews chapter eleven, we immediately put them in the same unreachable category as Peter. It’s easy for us to fall into the comparison game. It’s even easier for Satan to capitalize on such comparisons and bring our credibility into question. Some of you may be suffering from such symptoms even today.

But Peter, the guy we put on the pedestal, says this – “you have received a faith as precious as mine. You have equal standing before the Lord with me.” Pause for a moment and enjoy the splendor of that thought. My first reaction was to shout WOW! I hope that was yours also. But then I thought of those of you who are so overloaded with credibility questions that you immediately doubted the reality and truth of what Peter said. I understand because I’ve been there myself. But there is freedom from that competitive comparison bondage.

Look back at what Peter said and you will discover the key to unlock your chains. It’s right there in the first part of the verse. Until you discover it, you will continue to think that the value of your faith is based on the validity of your works. Until you get this one thing corrected you will continue to live under the lie that your faith is obtained through your attempts to become righteous. Unless you correct your mind and bring it into conformity with the truth of God’s Word, you will continue to try to out-perform others, trying to raise your personal assessment of your worth.

So what’s the key? It’s simple – your faith is based on the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. That makes all of us equal and equally precious. When God looks at your life right now, no matter where you are or what you are doing, He sees the righteousness of Christ in you. You are equally precious in His sight with all other believers. You have equal standing with Peter, James, John, and Paul. You are as precious to God as Mary the mother of Jesus. You, with all your flaws and failures, have been given a faith that lifts you out of the slime of sin and places you at the side of the Savior.

You are so precious that Jesus came from glory to get you. C.S. Lewis says it this way. “One may think of a diver first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and cold water, down through the increasing pressure into the deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay, and then back up again, back to color and light, his lungs almost bursting until suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping, precious thing he went down to recover. That dripping, precious thing is you and I, and Jesus is the diver who came down to get us.”

You are precious. Your faith is equally precious with every other saint who followed Christ. Conquer your doubts. Renew your mind so you can stop basing your value on your performance and start believing you are already precious. You have been set free by Christ.

“GIVE THANKS TO THE FATHER WHO HAS QUALIFIED YOU TO SHARE EQUALLY IN THE INHERITANCE WITH ALL THE SAINTS…” (Colossians 1:12)

Don’t choose to go back to your chains. Use the key God has given you to unlock those chains and rejoice that you have been declared righteous. Now, live in that victory every day.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, December 30, 2022

I am overloaded with blessing today because of the many truths in this one verse.

1 Peter 5:10 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 

I submit to you a bulleted format of points today. Choose the one or several that best fit your needs.

• All grace is from God, and God gives grace generously. His grace is sufficient for every need. His grace has conquered sin and death (Romans 5:20-21). Every suffering, every trial, and every difficulty is yet another opportunity to experience the grandeur of God’s grace as He sustains us and supplies our every need. Our sinful flesh deserves the suffering. Our suffering Savior is God’s gift of grace that calls us to eternal fellowship and glory. Each hardship is God’s activity to reveal His glory and strengthen our bond with Him.
• Suffering is temporary – the glory to which we have been called is eternal.  “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” My friends, please take time to read this entire passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians 4:6-18.
• God Himself is affirming me. This is my personal application point for today. When I used to be in business, it was nice to get words of affirmation from my manager, and then from my district manager, but I will never forget the time I got a call from the owner of the company. When the person responsible for the bottom line calls, it means more. “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
• God Himself will deliver the grace you need to accomplish four things:
  1. He will restore you. The Greek word means “to render fit, sound, and complete; to put things in order.” God is personally setting all things in order in your life, so you are fully equipped to do His work. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
  2. He will make you strong. This is the only place in the entire New Testament where this word appears. It is probably derived from the same root word used in Ephesians 6:10 where Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might so that we can stand against all the attacks of our enemy the devil. God Himself is providing all the strength you need to resist the devil and stand strong in the midst of all trouble.
  3. God Himself will make you firm. He will establish you. He will make you stable. Stability is not a pipe dream. It is a reality for all who live wisely, recognizing that wisdom comes from God alone through our faith in Jesus Christ. God is the personal source of stability. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (James 1:5-8).
  4. God will make you steadfast. The Greek word here refers to the placing of a solid foundation upon which anything can be built. That foundation is Jesus Christ, the Rock of our salvation. This same word is used to describe the three building materials of a solid foundation.
     • Faith – “continue in your faith, established and firm.” (Colossians 1:23)
     • Hope – “established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” (Col. 1:23)
     • Love – “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

God Himself will provide for you. God Himself affirms you. God Himself is at work in you. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, December 29, 2022

1 Peter 5:9 “Resist him [the devil], standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

I want to encourage you today with one word from 1 Peter 5:9. It requires looking at the verse in a different translation. The New American Standard Version reads – “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”  I want to focus on the word accomplished.

Did you know that suffering is accomplishing something positive in your life? Hard to believe while we’re in the thick of it, but it’s true. The Greek word in the original text here is epiteleo, and it means “to bring to an end, to complete, to perfect.” It is the same word the Apostle Paul chose to describe the completion of the work God is doing in our lives when he wrote to the people of Philippi. He said, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Here’s my simple yet profound point for today: “All suffering of all Christians is the same kind – the kind that moves us towards experiencing the completion of the character of Christ.” The types of suffering people experience may be different, but the reason for all suffering is the same. God is completing a grand work in us to perfect the life of His Son Jesus.

It doesn’t matter whether the suffering was self-induced by our own choices, or people-induced because of the choices of others. It is all God-designed and God-controlled for one primary reason – to train our character by testing our faith. Peter says that the knowledge of this process being active in all of us is the motivation for us to unite in our stand against the devil who seeks to stop the process.

Satan doesn’t want Christians to act or think like Jesus. He doesn’t want us to be a threat to his singular purpose to destroy as much of God’s creation as he can – especially the part of it created in His own image. He seeks to eliminate the proof of the resurrection of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit by discouraging, defeating, and devouring the faith of every believer. He wants us to look just like the unsaved people of the world so that none of them have any hope of change.

But the work of God to perfect the life of Jesus in His children will not and cannot be stopped. It can be hindered by our responses to how God is working, but in the end, it cannot be stopped. So resist the devil and stand firm in your faith. God is working through each and every situation of your life to produce the character of Christ in you. Nothing about your current situation surprises Him or overwhelms Him. It has been designed by Him to bring the fullness of fellowship with Jesus to your life. It is the same for all of us. Let us together stand firm in our faith.

“…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

1 Peter 5:9 “Resist him [the devil], standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

One of the most enjoyable things I used to do with my oldest son was to take a trout fishing trip every spring to the Peshtigo River in Eastern Wisconsin. We camped in a rustic national forest with no modern conveniences. We sit around the campfire in the morning and cook breakfast. We fish all morning. We nap after lunch. We fish until supper. We sit around the campfire all evening and wonder when the bears will arrive to check out our food.

This fishing trip was one of the scariest and most tiring things I ever did. No, not because of the bears, but because of the strength of the river. Depending on the amount of rain that had fallen the river could be rushing rapidly. One year it was almost impossible to fish. Even when the river is low and the flow is slow, there are slippery rocks below, so you must watch where you go. (poetic, right?)

To catch the fish, we wade through the river. Every step has to be carefully planned to avoid falling in and being washed away in the current. The best way I’ve found to remain upright and have the best opportunity to catch fish is to walk upstream, against the flow. This takes great strength and alertness. Firm footing is hard to find. Every step is a step of faith. The water is dark and in most places the bottom can’t be seen. But we know the bottom is there. We know the rocks are there. We know the footing can be firm if the placement of the foot is correct. It takes strength and resolve to go against the flow, but the exhaustion we feel is quickly dispelled by the sound and smell of trout in the frying pan.

I have never seen a successful trout fisherman who sits complacently. Those who would sit in the river will be at the mercy of the current. They will quickly be swept away. It is less dangerous to stand than to sit.

Unfortunately, in the spiritual world today, far too many Christians have decided to sit complacently in the rushing current of culture. They are being swept away by the flow of faithless philosophy and floundering folks. Few Christians are standing firm in the river of the world and going upstream against the flow. It seems most think it’s not worth the fight.

We cannot follow Jesus and go with the flow. Standing firm in the faith and resisting the devil requires great strength and resolve. It takes training and discipline, but Jesus has called ALL of His followers to stand. Sitting complacently and enjoying the free ride down the river is not an option, and it’s not free. Those who do not stand will be bruised on the rocks. They will be swept under in the rapids. They will go over the falls and plunge to their deaths. Only those who stand and go against the flow will survive. But it will be a fight.

• Those who have stood firm in the past have called it a fight. Fight the good fight of the faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
• They have fought the fight and will receive the reward. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.   Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
• They have been obedient to the teaching they received. Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction…so that by following them you may fight the good fight,   holding on to faith and a good conscience. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)
• They have drawn a distinct line between the spiritual and the worldly. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.   The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.   We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
• They have equipped themselves with everything they need to win the fight and stand firm in their faith. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)

So get up from your spiritual lazy-boy which is being swept away by the current of culture. Put your feet firmly on the Rock. Resist the devil. Go against the flow. Stand firm in your faith. Whatever strength it takes to stand will be supplied by the One who stood for you and died. He did it for the joy that was set before Him. He didn’t sit down until the fight was over (Hebrews 12:2). Get up. Your fight is not done.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

I trust you had a blessed Christmas. Let’s get back to our study of First Peter.

1 Peter 5:8  “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 

There is quite a contrast between the declared mission of the devil and that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan is seeking anyone he can devour and destroy. Jesus is seeking anyone so that He can save them. As Christians, we claim to be partners in Christ’s mission. I propose to you today that we like the saving part of the mission and get excited when it happens, but we have neglected the seeking part of the mission.

Jesus has called us and equipped us with His Holy Spirit to carry out His mission. He described His mission on several occasions. At the very beginning of His public ministry, in a synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, He declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  After meeting a man named Zacchaeus, Jesus stated, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” And while speaking to some Pharisees about who He was and his ministry to the world, Jesus proclaimed, “I have come that they might have life, and that it might be abundant.”

Satan, the enemy of Jesus and His followers, does not have life in mind in anything he does. He only seeks death. Unfortunately, many people fall for the devil’s that make death appear as life.  Even Christians succumb to the devouring disguises of materialism, acceptance, and self-worth. As a result, we are satisfied to put on the appearance of rejoicing when someone is saved from their sin, yet we rarely participate in actively seeking the lost sinner to bring them to Jesus. Christianity has become the means of achieving personal security and comfort. The church has moved from being a lifesaving station that seeks the lost to an elite clubhouse with sufficient protections in place to keep dangerous people out.

I first read the following story years ago. I was reminded of it by a friend recently in an email. It illustrates that we have stopped fulfilling the “seeking” portion of Christ’s mission. It was written by Theodore Wedel.

“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was no more than a hut, and there was only one boat; but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea. With no thought for themselves, they went out day and night, tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to be associated with the station and give their time, money, and effort to support the work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.

“Some of these new members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those who were saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were not interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club’s decoration, and there was a memorial lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held.

“About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them were foreigners. The beautiful new club was in chaos. Immediately, the property committee hired someone to rig up a shower house outside the club, where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

“At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities because they felt they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. A small number of members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. The small group’s members were voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast.

“They did.

“As the years went by, however, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old station. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore.

“Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the passengers drown. No one is seeking them anymore.”

My friends, we need to recover our passion for lifesaving.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, December 26, 2022

Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” 

For many people, like my wife, the thrill of Christmas continues today because the After Christmas Sales have begun. Stores once again have opened early to close out all of their seasonal merchandise. People are getting up early to head to the stores and get a head start on what they will need for next Christmas. They will find their treasures at greatly reduced prices and store them up in their closets and basements so when the time comes for the next holiday they will be prepared. Just knowing what they bought and how great a bargain they got will sustain them through the shopping lulls caused by regular prices in the days ahead.

For me, the lull of regular life has already started. I awoke early this morning thinking “Now what?” Now that Christmas has come and gone for another year, it’s time to get back to normal. But routine sounds so boring. What treasures do I have to sustain me through the long winter months still ahead? Then I thought of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her Baby has been born, the trip home has been completed, and routine has been established. People have stopped coming over to visit and to see the Baby. Relatives are finally settled down and are acting like they accept this “miraculous” birth. Joseph is back in his carpentry shop, and Mary struggles to fight off the depressing prospect of life in the regular lane.

But she is prepared to fight that battle, and how she fights it is a lesson for all of us. You see, she went After Christmas Shopping also; only she did it in her heart. She found lots of treasures, filling here cart with eternally enduring truths and memories. There were treasures like Gabriel’s announcement to her that she was highly favored by God; his explanation of the power of the Holy Spirit that would come upon her; the visit with Elizabeth and the sharing of a miraculous birth experience with her; the statement of the angel that “nothing is impossible with God;” the description by the shepherds of the glory of God in the sky and the announcement of good news for all the people; and the first time she held the Son of God in her arms and experienced the fullness of God’s grace and truth. Mary filled her heart with all these things and more, and they were able to sustain her for the next 12 years of regular life until another “holiday” occurred. Jesus was teaching in the temple, and once again Mary found some more treasures to store up in the closet of her heart.

She would need all of these treasures because life would be regular for the next 18 years, but when life stopped being routine when Jesus was presented by His heavenly Father to the world as the people’s Savior, she was ready. She was ready because she had done more than just put the treasures in a closet: she put them in a prominent place in the house of her heart where she could look at them every day and be reminded that life with Jesus is not regular. She was sustained because she had polished the art of meditation on God’s truth. The truths she experienced and treasured became her weapons with which she fought the battle of routine.

We have the same opportunity. We too must polish up the art of meditation: not meditation for the purpose of escaping life like the world teaches; but rather meditation on the truths of God for the purpose of fulfilling life. When Joshua was preparing to lead the people of Israel into the battle for the Promised Land, God gave him these instructions – “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” King David says it this way in Psalm 1 – “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” 

It’s time to go spiritual shopping for treasures which are found in God’s Word – and they’re FREE! What a bargain – life-sustaining truth at no cost. Fill your cart today.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, December 23, 2022

Luke 2:9  “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”

From Christianity Today comes this story:

“She was five, sure of the facts, and recited them with slow solemnity convinced every word was revelation.

“She said, ‘They were so poor they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat and they went a long way from home without getting lost. The lady rode a donkey, the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady. They had to stay in a stable with an ox and a donkey, but the Three Rich Men found them because a star lighted the roof. Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them. Then the baby was born. And do you know who he was?’

“Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars.

“The baby was God.”

“And she jumped in the air, whirled around, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion, which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation.”

What is our response when God invades the ordinary of our lives? I had an opportunity one day to experience God’s invasion into my life. At 9:00 a.m. a man walked through the front door of the church offices and handed me a package. He said that he had been blessed by a message I had preached several weeks earlier on giving our best – our firstfruits – to the Lord. He said this package represented his firstfruits and he wanted me to have it. I slowly opened the grocery bag to look inside, and I was overwhelmed and amazed at the contents. With tears in my eyes I gave the man a huge hug and thanked him. He asked why I was so surprised and broken by his gift. I told him my story.

Two weeks earlier my wife and I had been planning the menu for our annual family Christmas dinner. It had always been Norwegian in flavor based of both of our family’s heritage. We have yulekaka (pronounced you-la-kaga) and yulagret, which is now called riskrem, meaning rice cream. Some of our family members have never taken to the Norwegian foods, so several years ago we decided to add an American tradition to our meal – steak and crab meat with baked potatoes. Denise and I were planning what kind of steak to get and how much we would need for everyone to have a small 4-6 ounce portion. I had an idea. Why not get a rib roast and have a slice of prime rib instead of the steak. We agreed to check out the price and keep that as an option. After talking to the meat guy at our grocery store, we decided we would not spend that much money on one small part of the meal. I began looking at small steak options, but something, or should I say Someone, told me not to get them yet. I would wait until the day before our meal to buy what I needed.

By now the man who had given me the package was in tears. He knew what he had brought me. When I had looked in the bag, I discovered an eight-pound prime rib roast. I buried my head in his shoulder in a warm and meaningful embrace and praised God for invading my life with His glory. He whispered in my ear, “I love you. You came into my life and showed me God. You have made me so happy.” I told Him it was God who has filled him with joy, and both our eyes were dripping tears. We both got to see God.

 “My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Philippians 4:19)

Sometimes He invades the ordinary and gives us our wants too.

Pastor John