LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Slavery is offensive. It is the product of a Godless disrespect for all human life. Yet for many cultures it was and even still is a reality. The Apostle Paul addresses such a culture with a Christian perspective in Ephesians 6:5-8.

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”

Being a servant-hearted employee is the main point of emphasis Paul makes in today’s Scripture passage. As a former business manager during the 1970’s and 80’s, I watched as the work ethic of people deteriorated. I dealt firsthand with employees who demanded rights more than they fulfilled responsibilities. I dealt with staff who tried to take advantage of their positions for personal gain when they should have been sacrificing their objectives for the good of the company. I saw irresponsibility manifest itself in undependability. I was frustrated with negative attitudes expressed to customers because of some unfulfilled goal of the employee. I watched as life in general became more and more self-centered and it became harder and harder to find employees with a good work ethic.

I’m sure there are some of you today who are struggling with your current employment. I know there is temptation to become critical of your employer. I know you have higher goals. And I know there are times when moving to a different position is the right thing to do. But how we handle those situations is important because it is a key area where the Bible emphasizes our call to reflect the heart of Christ. There are Christ-hearted attitudes and actions that should prevail no matter what your fellow employees or your bosses are doing.

First, do what your told to do, unless it is a directive to sin, and do it with respect, fear, and sincerity. Respect and fear are irrevocably intertwined. They are both being lost in our modern culture. Respect for authority is almost gone, and with it the fear of any consequences. As Christians, we are to be the prime example of these two attitudes in our employment because it’s who we are. As born-again followers of Jesus Christ, our hearts have become His. Our hearts have been transformed so that all the old is gone, and as new creations in Christ all things have been made new. It is the sincere desire of our hearts to please our Savior because we have been overwhelmed by His grace. We don’t put on a show. We don’t do things because we have to, wishing we could be doing something else. We express in our actions and attitudes the true condition of our heart. We are sincere. That is how we are to work for our employer. Don’t just do a good job when they are watching so that they will reward you, but serve as an employee with sincerity, always doing your best, because God is always watching. It is the will of God for you to work this way.

One more thing about respect – it’s not just for the workplace. If our hearts are truly sincere so that we represent Christ all the time, then respect for your employer will carry over into your private life as well. The employee who speaks well of his employer while at work but then ridicules and critics that employer in the home or with friends is not sincere and is not representing Christ. It is imperative that as Christians we live sincere lives that express the heart of our Lord.

Second, do your job wholeheartedly. Do it with excellence. Don’t just get by with the minimum. Don’t just fulfill the job description. Excel! Push yourself to the limits. Learn more than you need to. Give your employer your best, because even if they don’t recognize it or reward it, God will. I should add at this point that this applies to positions you volunteer for in your church as well. I see a huge problem in most churches. People volunteer for a position, then complain about having to do it. They put in only the bare minimum required, and then claim to be serving the Lord wholeheartedly. YUCK! It is in the church of Jesus Christ where the greatest expressions of excellence should occur. I can understand the difficulty of some people to see their secular employment as a ministry to God, but I cannot understand the complacency that exists in the church when people volunteer for positions and then disrespect the Holy Spirit by quenching the full expression of the gifts He gave them. Every place of service in the church should be a place of excellence. There is something wrong with the heart condition of those who serve with critical attitudes and sub-standard effort.

So, evaluate your heart today before you evaluate your job or your boss. Ask Jesus Christ to teach you to be a servant. Ask Him to capture your heart with His love. Then serve Him wholeheartedly in every area of your life. It will be a joy to watch your attitudes change.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Here’s an important question. Whose responsibility is it to teach children to follow God? The answer may seem simple, but it is not lived out in our culture today. According to the Apostle Paul, under the direct and Divine influence of the Holy Spirit, the responsibility for the training of children to be followers of Jesus Christ belongs to the father. Not the mother. Not the church. Not the AWANA leader. Not their schoolteachers. The father!

Ephesians 6:1-4  “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.“

That’s why Satan has mounted a full assault on the institution of marriage and family. The Adversary of our souls makes it easy for divorce in our society. The Devil has convinced our society that single-parent families with moms being the parent are just as viable as traditional two-parent families. The Enemy knows that without dad, there can be no true teaching about authority and respect. Without dad there is no complete picture of God that can be presented to a child. Without dad, there will be an ever-increasing separation of generations from faith in Jesus Christ. (If you’re a single mom, may the Lord grant you the grace necessary to bring your children up in the training and instruction of the Lord, but may He also grant your children the influence of a Godly man through your church so that they can overcome the spiritual disability they will feel without one and fully learn to follow Christ.)

But just because a dad is present doesn’t guarantee the spiritual success of a child. Dads must be spiritual fathers to their children. Paul told the parents, “Don’t use your authority to abuse the child, but to encourage and build the child.” To the Colossians he wrote, “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” So it seems the opposite of “provoke” is “encourage.” Dads are to be the encouragers of their families. He is to be his children’s greatest fan, balanced with the loving discipline that trains.

Fathers can provoke their children and discourage them in a variety of ways. Here’s a list I found of the top ten things dads do that exasperate their children:

1. They are over-protective.

2. They show favoritism toward one of their children.

3. They compare the accomplishments or abilities of their children.

4. They push achievement, aims, and goals, and in so doing, put undue pressure on their children.

5. They do not reward or encourage their children.

6. They fail to allow childishness; that is, they do not understand that a child is a child, and not an adult.

7. They neglect their children’s needs: spiritually, socially, intellectually and physically.

8. They nag their children.

9. They abuse them with hateful, ugly, and bitter words.

10. They punish them cruelly by making the punishment too harsh or severe for the mistake that was made.

There’s one thing from this list that needs greater emphasis – they neglect the spiritual needs of their children. Dads, your first and highest priority as a father is to teach your children the truths of God – not only verbally but by your example. Godly dads don’t just tell their kids how to behave – they model how to behave. They model love and a servant’s heart to their wife – the mother of the children. They model sacrificial giving by putting the needs of mom and the kids ahead of their own, no matter how tired they are. They model personal devotion to Jesus Christ through a consistent daily quiet time with God. They model respect for and submission to authority in their church and in their careers. They transfer worth to their children by investing their time in the child’s interests. The instill a sense of security and value in the child by taking the time to truly teach them the things of God that will bring fulfillment to their life. It’s amazing what happens to the behavior of a child when he or she knows that dad cares enough about them to invest his best in them. Dads – Jesus Christ is the best you have to give them. Without you and without Jesus, your children will be exasperated.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

In Ephesians chapter 6 the Apostle Paul is continuing his instructions on how we are to be imitators of Christ as we live in our modern world. He discussed in chapter 5 the relationship between husband and wife that is to model love and respect for God’s authority and for one another. Then he gives us the instruction necessary to make sure all of society can succeed, and it starts with the family. There will be no respect in society if there is first no respect by children for the authority of their parents. God’s promise of social success hinges on this one commandment – “Honor you father and mother.”

This requires several things to be in place. First, the parents are to be “in the Lord.” It is imperative that for children to learn proper respect that the parents model it, and that begins with a surrendered and submissive heart to the will and purpose of God in their lives. Without Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives, parents quickly become their own lords, and will become models of self-centered and self-serving authority. Self-help books, philosophy, and religion has not, will not, and cannot change this. Only Jesus can bring respect back and it starts with us respecting Him.

Second, children must be taught that there is a right and wrong. Paul’s command to them says, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. This assumes that the children both understand right and wrong and have a desire to do right. Parents, are you teaching your children the truth of right and wrong? Are you training them in righteousness? Are you consistently enforcing consequences of wrong choices so that they learn to respect the righteousness of Christ? Do your children and grandchildren see you humbly submitting to Jesus Christ and accepting the consequences of your own sin when you make a wrong choice? You can’t hide your sin from your children. They see it, and they talk about it. Do they see you modeling the respect for God’s authority that is necessary to teach them proper respect?

As Christians, we have a huge opportunity to change our culture. It begins in our own families. It extends through our personal ministry to neighbors as we model love and respect to them. It is one of the main areas of mission for our churches. We must learn, submit to, and model respect for the authority of God. We must live out that respect in our family lives. We are to be the source of people’s desire for a new society. In fact, the church is to be the new society – a society of people who love and respect God, and as a result love and respect one another.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, April 18, 2022

Respect. It’s being lost. I don’t know when it all started, but the right of an individual to respect only his or her own position has become the new social order of today. As I was researching this issue this morning, I came across an article written by J. Gerald Harris on The Christian Index in October of 2007. Here are some excerpts.

“I remember well the riots and demonstrations that took place on many college and university campuses in 1967-68. There was a crusade to “tear down the establishment.”

“This crusade carried over into the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Abbie Hoffman, a self-proclaimed communo-anarchist, was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during that fateful Democratic National Convention. Hoffman along with other individuals became known, collectively, as the Chicago Seven. In his autobiography Hoffman wrote: “Kids need to be educated to disrespect authority. Otherwise, democracy is a farce.”

“I would never recommend Hoffman’s book, but somehow his message, which was conceived by the devil and hatched in hell, has found a lodging place in the minds of many.

“I was in a restaurant last week and in the booth behind me a mother was eating lunch with her two small children. There was constant bantering between the poor beleaguered mother and the two very vociferous and rambunctious children.

“The children were apparently born in the objective mood and the negative case. They were not happy with the restaurant their mother had chosen, the color of Crayons they had received from the server, the food, or the surroundings. At one point the mother said to her son, “Landon, eat your chicken fingers.”

“He responded by shouting loud enough for the chef in the kitchen to hear, “I hate this food and I don’t have to do what you say!”

“If I had ever said that to my mother or father in public or private the wrath of Khan would have seemed like a walk in the park compared to the retribution I would have received from my parents. But then, my parents taught me to have a reverence for God, a respect for authority, and a reason for living.

“To me it is of little wonder that many children fail to respect the authority of their parents, because there is a lack of respect for authority on just about every level of our society. When adults fail to respect those in authority over them, why should we expect any less from children? Unfortunately, in our day we not only see authority disrespected, but demeaned. Americans have the right to dissent, but the protestations of some have reached a level of disrespect and dishonor that is shameful, even reprehensible.

“In the grand scheme of things I suppose that disrespect for authority is nothing new. In fact, in the first pages of the Bible we find that Satan entered the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve by challenging what God had said. The first sin was not a matter of whether the action was right or wrong; it was a matter of whether or not authority should be respected. Satan led Adam and Eve to believe that God was an inadequate authority trying to hide power from them and lying to them about the outcome of their choices. He convinced them to reach around God, due to His “inadequacy,” and reach for godhood on their own. Obviously, this same tendency follows us today. We have an enormous problem with authority and have been searching for a way to get authority for ourselves since Eden.

“Any time we disrespect the authority that is over us, it is a blatant attempt to reach around the authority God has established. People who fail to honor the authorities God has placed over them may ultimately get the leadership they deserve.”

Ephesians 6:1-3  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Think on the issue of respect today, and we will talk more tomorrow.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, April 15, 2022

“Ignorance is bliss,” according to eighteenth-century English poet Thomas Gray. I think I agree with him in one specific area: I am glad I am ignorant of the details of the future. How many times would I choose to stay in bed with the doors locked if I knew every detail of what was going to happen to me in the coming day? Probably a lot. For me, not knowing what a day will bring adds to the adventure and tests my faith in the One who does know. I believe my trust in Jesus Christ to bring about God’s outcomes is strong enough to face just about anything on any given day. But before I get too close to the precipice of pride and risk a fall, let me pause for a moment and humble myself before Almighty God and thank Him for the grace He has granted to make this day possible and to make my life qualified to walk with Him.

“Jesus, I realize that I am nothing without you, and that it is your life in me that makes living possible. May I respond to every situation today with faith in your work that is being carried out in and through me, and may it all be for your glory. Amen.”

Being focused on God’s outcome is the key to surviving change, inconvenience, interruptions, and tragedies. We expect those things to happen; we just don’t know when they will and how severe they will be. But Jesus did. Tucked away in today’s Scripture passage is an incredible statement of mission and purpose. 

John 18:4-11  “Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)  When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered.”

“Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out…”

Every detail of His suffering and death were known to Him. He knew He would not sleep that night. He knew He would be dragged from one tribunal to another to face His accusers. He knew He would have to watch their hypocrisy as they refused to become ceremonially unclean in Pilate’s palace so they could eat the Passover lamb, all the while sentencing God’s Passover Lamb to death. He saw the scourging and flogging He would suffer at the hands of powerful Roman soldiers. He knew about the crown of thorns that would be placed on His head. He felt the pain of being rejected by the people who just days earlier had proclaimed Him as their King. He knew He would not be physically able to carry His own cross to Calvary because He had been so badly beaten. He knew He would be stripped naked and nailed to a cross until He was dead. He knew that for the first time in all eternity He would experience the presence, power, and punishment of sin in His own life. He knew that all of this was going to happen to Him on this day, and yet He went out to meet it and embrace it.

How could He do that? Because He was totally committed to God’s purpose, and He totally trusted God’s power to accomplish His purpose. For Jesus, knowing the future was not limited to just this day – Jesus also saw His glory after the resurrection. He knew more than just the outcome of today – He knew the outcome of forever. He chose to focus on the eternal and not the immediate. 

So must we! We may not know the details of today, but we do know the outcome of forever. We know the promise of God to rescue us from wrath and bring us into His presence for all eternity. We know His power to fulfill His promise. But we continue to choose to look at the present instead of the promise. Had Jesus done that He would have run to hide when the soldiers approached. Instead, He went out to them and gave Himself into God’s hand, not theirs.

O my friends, there is so much truth for us to discover in this. May the Holy Spirit bring to your mind and heart the treasures of these truths as you meditate on this today. May we have the faith to face the day, knowing that we are not at the mercy of the world but in the hand of the Father. Even though we are convinced we will suffer in the present, may our focus be on the Person who will resurrect us from it with the same power He used to resurrect His Son.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, April 14, 2022

For me, one of the most powerful verses in the entire Bible about the love of Jesus is John 13:1.

“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”  

It is the night before He was to be crucified and He is meeting with His disciples. Jesus has spent over three years with them, teaching them about God with His words and His actions. Motivated by love, He has modeled for them the attributes of God like grace, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, peace, joy, and justice. He completely manifested the reality of God to them.

By now His human heart is being wrenched with pain as His spiritual heart sees the reality of what He is about to suffer. I can only imagine what it must be like to have to accept the truth that these are the final days of life on this earth. I know how much it hurts to hear about those I love who are nearing death. The pain must be excruciating for those who are living it. Jesus was no different. He has called together those that He loves to give them the news and to spend whatever time He has left making sure they are prepared for the future. He looks back on His life with them and is satisfied that He has loved them completely and accomplished God’s mission to that point. But there is one more thing He needs them to learn. It is not an insignificant thing left until the end as an addendum or because of an oversight: it is the culmination of His teaching and the completion of His love. He intentionally modeled for them how to fully show love to others by being their servant.

Notice these important truths:

1.      Jesus was a servant to others even when He was under extreme emotional stress. How often do we use stress as an excuse to become self-focused? I did that yesterday, and it ended up hurting a sister in Christ. I accomplished what I wanted but at the expense of her significance. I have apologized, but the pain remains. Jesus modeled the fullness of love when He served others in a time when circumstances warranted others serving Him. I should have done the same.

2.      Jesus taught in this one action of washing His disciple’s feet that true love expresses itself by considering others better than our self. The full extent of love is experienced only when we look to the needs of others even when we have needs that seem bigger. How can we compare the needs of a person who is about to be severely persecuted and killed to the needs of people with dirty feet? How can we not be deeply touched by the expression of love as the One in the greatest need meets the lesser needs of others?

3.      Jesus knew that the acquisition of power, position, and prestige would lead most people to self-sufficiency. When the foot washing was complete Jesus asked the disciples if they truly understood what He had done. Before they could answer He told them. He reminded them of His rightful position as their Teacher and Lord. Jesus knew His status with them and with His Father, and so did the disciples. But Jesus made it perfectly clear that power and position are never to interfere with the expression of love to others. He modeled it so that we all could see it and do it. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 

Friends, my heart is overwhelmed right now with a desire to renew my commitment to showing the full extent of God’s love for me by serving others. Not just when it’s convenient or even appropriate, but in all situations, and with no concern for my own position, rights, or needs. Will you consider the same, remembering the model of Jesus who showed the full extent of God’s love by washing His disciple’s feet, even the feet of the one who would betray Him?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

When I was a boy, I was fascinated with the prospect of heaven. As a young man I studied everything I could get my hands on about prophecy. My grandfather, Dr. J.A. van Gorkom, was an evangelist who spent time in churches teaching prophecy, and I still have his big banners that he hung across the front of the church to depict the timeline of God’s future work. I think it is necessary for us to keep the return of Christ in the forefront of our thinking because it is the foundation of our hope and will keep us from discouragement while we live in a world that increasingly oppresses us. Just think, someday – maybe today – we will be living with Jesus forever!

But as I was growing up I don’t remember being taught the rest of the story very well. The emphasis seemed to primarily be on heaven and what was ahead, and how we needed to live pure lives in preparation for the coming of Jesus. I know this isn’t what was intended, but it almost seemed like we were responsible for keeping ourselves worthy of heaven by how we lived our lives. Any encouragement we received to repent of sin and correct our lifestyle choices seemed to be motivated by either forced obedience or by comparison to others. I don’t remember a balanced emphasis on the fact that we are already living with Him, and He lives in us.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 – 11 “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

I wish I would have understood this incredible truth a lot earlier in my life. A significant part of Christ’s mission to the earth was to make it possible for life with Him to begin immediately. But so many of us don’t really understand this – it stays a mystery to us. The Apostle Paul said this was a mystery once, but it is not to be now. In Colossians 1:25 – 27 he writes, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

The mission of Christ was more than to die for our sins so that someday we may live with Him. He died for us so that, whether we are alive or dead, we are living with Him because He is living in us now.

This is the sole motivator of how we live our lives. It is the basis for all encouragement and admonition as we build one another up in Christ. Our motivation for purity is not to be more spiritual than another person, nor is it to conform to a set of rules so we can be declared obedient. The only thing that makes Godly living possible is God’s living Presence. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

So as important as it is to be looking for the soon return of Jesus to take us into glory forever, it is equally important to know that Jesus lives in us already and we are able to experience His glory now. That’s why He died for us. He has appointed us to receive salvation as a present possession. Yes, it will be fully experienced when we are free from this sinful body – but it is only the body that limits the experience of the fullness of glory. Our spirits have no such limitation. So walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh and be governed by its influence: the flesh will have no power over you, because Jesus lives in you.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

In two weeks, I will be going on a mission trip. I have been on many of them, but I have started to recognize a problem. There is a difference between being on a mission trip and being on a mission. Mission trips can be either temporary interruptions to our normal pursuits of life or they can be another means of expressing the lifelong mission we are on.

When Jesus came to the last week of His life prior to His crucifixion, He spoke about being on mission. Everything about His life led up to this “trip”.

John 12:31 – 32 “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 

Jesus describes His mission in three particulars:

1. He will determine the guilt of the world and enforce the punishment;
2. He will drive Satan from power;
3. He will draw all men to Himself.

Of the three aspects of His mission, we are able to be involved in only one of them. Some well-meaning Christians try to get involved in more than one, but it is wasted effort and a prideful pursuit. Some think it is their responsibility to pass judgment on the sins of others. As Christians we only have the right to communicate the facts of the judgment already imposed, but it must be done in the context of the punishment that has already been suffered. If we are going to point out the sin in another person’s life it must be done with the grace of forgiveness and not with the condemnation of judgment. Jesus has already judged the world, and He has not asked us for our validation of that judgment.

Other Christians think it is their privilege to be able to drive Satan from power. Why are they attempting to do what has already been accomplished? In his Biblical letter, James says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) We are not told to attack Satan, or to drive Him away. Rather, we are told to submit to God, and in the simple act of resisting Satan’s attacks he will flee from us. Why? Because his power has already been broken in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is foolish to engage in a work that is already completed.

But as Christians we are to be involved in lifting Jesus up from the earth so that He may draw all men to Himself. I know that Jesus was specifically referring to the type of death He would die on the cross when He said this, but there is an ongoing application for all of us. First, Jesus was not saying that all people would be saved. We know that is not true from what happened to Judas and one of the thieves on the cross next to Him. Not everyone will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. But when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He made it possible for all mankind to come to the knowledge of who He is. It is now our responsibility to live and speak in such a way that we lift Jesus up above the things of the earth so that all people have a chance to know who He is.

 Our mission is to lift up Jesus above the earth. Our mission is to make the life of Christ more obvious in us, so He is more obvious to the people around us. This means sacrificing the significance of earthly things and stipulating the significance of heavenly things. Paul says in Colossians 3:1 – 3, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

But don’t be confused or discouraged – it is not our lives that attract people to Jesus: it is the life of Jesus seen in us that draws them. He draws people to Himself, and we are the vessels He has chosen to use to be seen by the world. For that to happen, my vessel must be clear so He can be seen in me, not so colored by my own opinions, preferences, and goals that the world can only see me. May our lives be clear of the entanglements of the earth so that we can lift up Jesus so that He can draw people to Himself. That is our mission, and it’s quite a trip.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, April 11, 2022

Yesterday we celebrated what is called the “triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem. It is also called “Palm Sunday”, the day when the people of Israel who had gathered for the feast of the Passover waved palm branches as Jesus rode a donkey toward the city. The people were hoping that Jesus would be their promised Messiah and deliver them from the oppression of the Roman Empire. If they had only understood the teaching and ministry of Jesus from God’s perspective they would have known Jesus came to establish a spiritual kingdom first, which would later be followed by a political reign. But they only wanted the political.

God used the celebration of the people to accomplish His perfect plan for the redemption of the world. Two weeks earlier Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and it caused a major division in the nation of Israel. People who had been neighbors and friends were now secretly either believing in Jesus or reporting His actions to the Pharisees. Some were living in fear that they would be rejected by society for their newly found faith, while most were living in fear that the comfort and benefits of their way of life would be taken from them if Jesus was allowed to gain any more popularity and power. Those in power used hyperbole to accomplish their own objectives, claiming that “the whole world has gone after Him.”  They wanted Jesus dead and were already scheming to see that happen. Even those who claimed to believe in Jesus would eventually succumb to the pressure of the status quo and turn against Jesus.

John 12:17-19 ^“Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

As I consider the world in which we live I sense that things have not changed. Day after day the Name of Jesus is being attacked by the people of the world who are living in the fear that the comforts and benefits of their sinful way of life are being threatened by the truth of Jesus Christ. Even those who claim to know Jesus and be His followers are rejecting some elements of the truth so they can better fit into modern society and not face rejection or suffering. It seems that the cry of the Pharisees that the whole world has gone after Him is still being heard today, and the plans of the powerful to eliminate Jesus from the world are becoming more elaborate.

But we need to see the good news in all of this: opposition only happens when the opponent feels threatened. For the opponents of Christ to feel threatened they must be observing a “triumphal entry” of sorts of Jesus Christ into their territory. Preachers, evangelists, and missionaries are boldly proclaiming the Name of Jesus and His truth like never before. Churches are filled with vibrant and mature believers who are taking their faith into the workplace and living lives that honor Jesus rather than self. Some are even sacrificing everything to take the Gospel to the far reaches of the world where they face the risk of making the ultimate sacrifice of death to bring life to those who are dead in their sin. The church of Jesus Christ is alive because Jesus is alive, and the world is being threatened.

 But there is one more reality that we must face – the world will not lay down their lives for Christ. They will continue to implement more and more schemes designed to eliminate Christ from society, and they will succeed. They will partially succeed when they cause many who claim to believe in Christ to fall away from their faith and turn to the world’s system – and that is already happening. They will claim ultimate success when all the Christians are removed from this earth by Jesus in preparation for His judgment of their sin. But it was not their plan that succeeded; it is God’s plan that is being worked out for His glory, and we are a part of it. The people of the world are not in control, as they think they are. God is!

So don’t be like the people of Jesus’ time, who wave palm branches celebrating their King one day and then succumb to the pressures of their personal comforts and social acceptance the next day. Don’t fall away! Don’t even slip a little. Be faithful! Let’s not only be one of the crowd that goes after Jesus, but one of the few that stays committed to Jesus.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, April 8, 2022

For the last several devotionals on marriage we have been focusing on the privilege of a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church. In the final verse of Ephesians 5 we find a statement to the wives – respect your husbands.

Ephesians 5:28-32  …and the wife must respect her husband.

Before you shout out, “But he has to earn my respect,” let’s talk about it. I agree that certain aspects of respect, like character, are earned, but there is to be an unconditional granting of respect for the position of husband no matter what. Unfortunately, we have very little modeling of that in our culture today. Consider the office of President of the United States. I remember as a young boy that newscasters on TV (no, I was not born before television) would never refer to the President by simply using his last name. Every reference to him began with the word President. But that kind of respect has been lost, and it has carried over into our jobs and our relationships.

God has commanded wives to respect the position that their husbands hold as His representative of authority in the family. Now some men’s character and behavior make that very difficult, but there is no loophole in God’s demand for respect. In fact, respect from his wife may be the most important element in any man’s growth and maturity into a more Christ-like role of family leadership.

One thing that destroys a man’s sense of respectability faster than anything is criticism. The wisest man to ever live understood this when he wrote things like “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife…Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife…Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife…A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day;restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.” (King Solomon in Proverbs) In fact, according to researchers, constant criticism is the single most measurable indicator when predicting marriage failure.

In the February 21, 1994 edition of U.S. News & World Report, a report was published by psychologists Cliff Notarius of Catholic University and Howard Markman of the University of Denver. They had studied newlyweds over the first decade of marriage in order to uncover the processes that destroy unions. These marital researchers studied couples over the course of years, and even decades, and retraced their steps back to their wedding day of those who had split up. What they discovered is unsettling. None of the factors one would guess might predict a couple’s durability actually does: not how in love a newlywed couple says they are; how much affection they exchange; how much they fight or what they fight about. In fact, couples who will endure and those who won’t look remarkably similar in the early days.

Yet they found a very subtle but telling difference at the beginning of the relationship. Among couples who would ultimately stay together, only 5 out of every 100 comments made about each other were put-downs. Among couples who would later split, 10 of every 100 comments were insults. That gap magnified over the following decade, until couples heading downhill were flinging five times as many cruel and invalidating comments at each other as happy couples. “Hostile put-downs act as cancerous cells that, if unchecked, erode the relationship over time,” says Notarius. “In the end, relentless unremitting negativity takes control and the couple can’t get through a week without major blowups.”

Yes, men are critical too. But we’ve already dealt with that when we spent several days talking to the husbands about loving their wives as Christ loves the church. If he does, he will be building her up and making her pure and holy, not putting her down with insults and criticisms. That same result of eliminating criticism will be experienced by wives if they would put respect for their husbands ahead of their desire to change him.

Roderick McFarlane, in the December, 1992 edition of Reader’s Digest, wrote about the success of her grandparents marriage. “On her golden wedding anniversary, my grandmother revealed the secret of her long and happy marriage. ‘On my wedding day, I decided to choose ten of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook.’ A guest asked her to name some of the faults. ‘To tell the truth,’ she replied, ‘I never did get around to listing them. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, ‘Lucky for him that’s one of the ten.’”

Respect for the position of husband. It carries the same responsibility of obedience by the wife as God’s command to the husband to love his wife. If you’re ready to evaluate your life in this regard, there’s a quiz you can take at the bottom of this devotional. Just remember, the greatest gift you can give your husband to spur him on to become all that God intended him to be is your respect that he can do it, and your encouraging words that you believe that he will.

Pastor John

How Critical are You of Your Spouse’

This exercise is meant to create awareness of how easily we can become critical of those we love the most. Keep track of the number of times you answer “Yes” to the following statements.

1. I feel critical toward my partner three times a week or more.

2. I feel critical toward my partner for how he or she looks.

3. I feel critical toward my partner for how he or she talks.

4. I feel critical toward my partner for how he or she relates to others.

5. I feel critical toward my partner for his or her values.

6. I feel critical toward my partner for his or her household habits.

7. I wish my partner were more like me.

8. I think my partner is capable of changing in the ways that I want.

9. I think my partner behaves in certain ways just to annoy me.

10. I find it hard to forgive my partner for not living up to all of my expectations.

11. I find it hard to accept the ways in which my partner is different from me.

12. My parents often criticized me when I was a child.

13. My partner often accuses me of being critical.

14. I wish I were more accepting of my partner.

15. One (or both) of my parents often criticized the other.

If you answered yes to 5 or more of these statements, you may have a problem with respect.

Warner Books, Inc. of New York, New York, U.S.A. From The First Year of Marriage by Miriam Arond and Samuel L. Pauker, M.D. Copyright by Miriam Arond and Samuel Pauker.