LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

When I was in college, I had the ability to imitate Billy Graham. I could produce the accent and the tone. I am a little embarrassed to reveal to you that once, while in college, some friends and I went to the Minneapolis International airport in the days prior to security protocols. As we walked the passageways to all the gates, we came across a large poster of the upcoming Billy Graham crusade. I stood in front of it and began to preach as Dr. Graham would. People even stopped and listened. I remember well the opening line of the sermon. “Do you have a hole in your soul?”

I am reasonably sure I have heard that line used by many preachers in an attempt to share the Gospel. Somehow we have come to believe that Jesus comes to us as an addition to what we already are. We want to think of Jesus as the final piece of life’s puzzle, only to be put in place after we have provided all the previous pieces. Yet this is so wrong.

In John twelve, some worshipers of God who were of Greek descent asked one of the disciples if they could meet Jesus. The response Jesus gives to their request seems to be out of place. Yet a careful reading of it makes perfect sense.

John 12:23-25  And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

The one truth that sticks out above the others in this passage, at least for today, is this: Jesus is not an addition to your present life; His life replaces whatever you now call life.

The assumption we can justifiably make about the Greeks from Christ’s response is that the seekers wanted to meet Jesus so they could add Him to their spiritual repertoire. They wanted to be a part of a movement without moving from the preferred parts of their life.

We do the same. We tend to add Jesus only where we feel a need, but Jesus demands that we lose everything we cherish about our earthly life and live only in the context of His life.

My friends, PLEASE evaluate your relationship with Jesus. Is He there only to fill a hole in your soul for which you have found no other solution? Or has Jesus captured your entire soul, and all of life is built on Him alone?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, February 15, 2021

“Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”” (John 12:20-21)

What is the deepest and most compelling desire of your heart?

Here’s how many would attempt to answer that question. After going through a short mental list of earthly things, we turn our attention to eternal things. We think of all the descriptions of the glory of heaven. There will be streets of gold, and gates of pearl. There will be a permanent resolution of all physical and emotional pain in our new perfected body. Never again will we be tempted to sin as it is banished forever. We will revel in the sight of the mansion built personally for me by my Savior.  Oh, and we will see Him face to face.

How embarrassing. We come to the realization that we want to see Jesus only after listing all the preferred benefits of knowing Him. That’s like coming home from work and noticing the beautiful flower garden with no weeds, the freshly mown lawn, the clean garage, and the smell of pot roast in the crock pot, but not noticing the 13-year old son who did it all.

The most compelling desire of our hearts should be to see Jesus. Let every temporal benefit of knowing Jesus be removed, and His embrace should be enough to satisfy us. Let all the glory and splendor that surrounds Him be invisible to our eyes, and the love pouring from His eyes into ours is sufficient. Remove all the gold, pearls, crystal seas, and mansions, and Jesus alone completely satisfies. 

I want to see Jesus. And until I see Him face to face, I want Jesus to be seen in me by you. Remove all the wealth of this life, in any form, and may the treasure of Christ be sufficient for me. Remove all the benefits of this life, in any form, and may the joy of my salvation sing forth from the chains of suffering. Take all the things I trust to give me security, peace, and pleasure, and may I shine forth the light of Jesus as my all in all.

I want to see Jesus, and I want Jesus to be seen in me.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, February 12, 2021

What if turtles were not limited by their shells? What if, instead of withdrawing into their shell for protection when they sensed danger, they stretched out and overcame their fear? What if turtles outgrew their shells every time they were threatened rather than hiding inside them hoping the danger goes away?

Suffering causes many people to withdraw like turtles. We go into a shell, hoping to protect ourselves from outside danger. We freeze in location, with no ability to move, having drawn up into a fetal position of fear.

I have a new theme verse for the rest of 2021. The Holy Spirit impressed it upon my spirit yesterday morning as I was listening to the Scriptures on my way to work. It is found in Exodus 1.

“But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad.”  (Exodus 1:12) 

God wants this to be true of each of us personally. He wants it to be true of His church. No more turtles in the church. No more churches acting like turtles. The more we are oppressed, the more we can grow. May it be so!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Evil can never thwart the redemptive purpose of God. In fact, the Sovereignty of God turns all evil back on itself and eventually fulfills His glory.

In the Gospel of John chapter eleven, evil men have gathered following the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. They believe they are empowered and authorized to eliminate Jesus as a threat to their way of life. They are preparing to permanently remove the influence of the Son of God from the earth. They have convinced themselves that they are doing a good thing for the people, and in turn doing a good thing for themselves.

The High Priest, Caiaphas, makes the following statement:

“You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

The High Priest’s motivation for his plan to kill Jesus was evil, even though he tried to disguise it in the rationale of national security. After all, we remember the words of Spock in the movie The Wrath of Khan” when he said, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Captain Kirk answers, “Or the one.” The High Priest of the Jewish faith suggested the same thing two thousand years earlier. “The needs of the people, and the needs of the nation, justify the sacrifice of the One.”

But the Apostle John explains that the priests and Pharisees are not the authors of this idea. John says, “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

I literally laughed out loud at my desk when I read this. The High Priest, declaring the evil intentions of man to kill the Son of Man for the benefit of man, was actually prophesying about the redemptive purpose of God to be accomplished in the death of Jesus. God is Sovereign.

When Peter preached his sermon on the day of Pentecost he referred to this plot by the spiritual leaders of Israel.

Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Would you look at that! God had sovereignly ordained the plan that would use the evil plots of lawless men to accomplish His glorious redemption of mankind.

The truth of God’s absolute control over all things is essential for us to believe and trust. We are so distracted by the circumstances of life which discourage us and sap the joy right out of our hearts. We lose hope in humanity. We try to resist evil but it is so prevalent around us we are exhausted from building walls of protection.

Yet God is in control. Every evil plot of mankind is actually a part of God’s redemptive plan. We waste so much emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual energy trying to bring the evil plots of men to an end. Instead, we can have the amazing perspective of God, who is working all things out for the good of those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

So, when you see evil, do not be drawn to it. Rather, be drawn to deeper faith in God who is controlling it for His own glorious purpose.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Today’s devotional is going to be short. I have my reasons. I do not want to argue. I do not want to negotiate. I certainly do not want to present anything but the simple truth. The potential is that what I am about to teach will become divisive and argumentative. I understand if it happens, because it happened in its original context.

Read the statement of the Apostle John as he relates to us the conversation between the spiritual leadership of his day following the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

John 11:47-48   So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

John tells us that the spiritual leadership of the Jews  made the choice to guard their system of religion at the expense of accepting the truth. National identity became more important than spiritual purity. Protecting themselves from extinction was more important than embracing the one who came to give them eternal life. Avoiding conflict resulted in political correctness rather than theological accuracy.

Please ponder the condition of the spiritual leadership of Jesus’ day. Then carefully evaluate your own position concerning spiritual truth, and the church’s relationship to government. Is there a chance that we have moved away from the truth because we place too high of a value on avoiding conflict? Is it possible that we are willing to minimize our stand on certain issues to keep the peace with our culture? Could it be that the redemptive purpose of Christ has less priority than pleasing people?

Please consider these things.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

I love my brothers. But childhood sibling rivalry was real. When I was young, my brother Paul really bugged me. We are only fifteen months apart in age, with me being the oldest. I felt like he always had our dad’s ear at my expense. When he was in trouble, he could always make dad laugh, thereby avoiding the consequences of his actions. Yet I was consistently in trouble because Paul would tell on me, and some of the things he told dad were made up. It was as if he was motivated by some need to be accepted by dad, even if it hurt me.

Please don’t think poorly of my brother. I don’t. To be totally honest, my memories are exaggerated to prove a point. Unfortunately, we all know people who place a high value on acceptance and are willing to hurt others to gain that acceptance. Those same people want the appearance of doing the right thing, but their motivations are sinful.

Such was the case in the response of people to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. We can see the contrast between people in John 11:45-46.   

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Tattletales.

To remain accepted in the religious group of their day, some of those who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus felt it was their civic and spiritual duty to report to the leadership what had happened. But their motives were very sinful. The Scripture contrasts their actions with the people who believed, so we know they were not motivated to be witnesses for Christ but rather witnesses against Christ. They chose to place a higher value on the protection of their current status than on representing the truth.

Tattletales.

But what about us? Are there times when we are motivated to speak to others for the same reason? Is maintaining our status with people so important that we would misrepresent the truth to them? Would we dare to deny the truth simply to protect our status?

Think on these things.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, February 8, 2021

When I was a boy my Sunday School teachers spent a significant amount of time teaching us to memorize Bible verses. Every Sunday in class we would read, repeat, and recite the verse of the week. Occasionally, during a week of review, the teacher would ask us to recite our favorite memory verse. Most of the boys in the class, including me, would shoot up their hands and hope to be chosen first. That’s because to us, favorite verse meant shortest verse. Invariably the first verse quoted each week would be John 11:35. “JESUS WEPT.”

At that immature age we did not yet understand the significance of those two words. But now I do. The shortest verse in the Bible is packed with deep theology. This brief description of Jesus as he approached the tomb of Lazarus convicts me.

First, I see in the weeping of Jesus a confirmation of His humanity. Jesus is at once both Deity and finite human being. He is fully God and fully human at the same time. The Son of God who left His throne in glory to be born of a virgin can fully and intimately relate to every suffering we experience. He is not distant and unable to feel our pain. He equally experienced every hurt we now feel.

Second, Jesus openly shared the pain of grief. Some of the people who observed Him weeping said, “See how he loved him!” Jesus was not afraid to let His emotions come to the surface.  Many of us bury our emotions. We believe they make us appear weak. But Jesus was certainly not weak. In fact, the expression of grief confirms the depth of one’s love for what has been lost.

Third, not only was Jesus weeping caused by the grief of death, but He wept over the unbelief of those around Him. Not everyone saw love in the tears of Jesus. While many were moved by the love of Jesus, others were moved to criticism based on unbelief. Verse thirty-seven of John eleven says, “But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” Jesus wept because He saw more people who were dead – spiritually dead.

I am determined to let two words change my heart and mind. I will not bury the pain of grief and loss. I will not let my fear of being seen as weak keep me from showing ultimate strength. I will love others deeply without fear of being hurt and experiencing loss. I will weep over those who oppose me, criticize me, and seek to hurt me because I know it an expression of their unbelief. I will not criticize or condemn others to protect myself. I will grow in the compassion of Christ for the lost and dying. I will weep over the sinful condition of mankind. I will be determined to reach as many as possible with the Good News of Jesus for so long as I live.

“Jesus wept.”

Will you?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, February 5, 2021

A Florida man who spent 37 years in prison on a rape and murder charge was released on August 27^th of last year, hours after officials revealed dramatic new DNA evidence that proved his innocence.

Robert DuBoise walked out of the Hardee Correctional Institution in Bowling Green, Florida, shortly after 2 p.m. With him were his mother and sister.

“It’s an overwhelming sense of relief,” Robert DuBoise told reporters outside the prison. “I prayed to God every day and hoped for it.”

DuBoise said he will have to learn many modern things, such as how to use a computer. But he added he bears no ill will toward those involved in his long incarceration.

“If you keep hatred and bitterness in your heart, you don’t have room for anything else,” he said. “I’m just very grateful.”

His mother, Myra DuBoise, said she prayed every day for this outcome.

“It’s a wonderful gift from the lord,” she said.

Harriet DuBoise, his sister, said it’s great to be able to hug her brother again.

“I always had faith. I always saw him getting out,” she said. “I never lost hope. Never.”

———————–

Even though we may not be experiencing the confinement of a prison cell, many of us are still bound up in the guilt and shame of sin. Yet in Christ we can be set free.

In the news story above, it was DNA evidence that proved a man’s innocence. It is the same for you and me. When Jesus Christ by grace through faith saved us from our sin, we by nature became the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) We now are identified by the spiritual DNA of Jesus. God sees only the innocence of Christ in us. When we look backward, prior to meeting Jesus, and define ourselves by sin, we imprison ourselves in guilt and shame. We are bound up in the wrappings of death. We can relate to Lazarus in the tomb.

But Jesus came to set us free. When Jesus arrives at the tomb of Lazarus, He commands that the stone be removed. After praying, Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out.”

Maybe you need to hear Jesus shouting to you today. He is commanding that you come out of your grave of guilt and shame. He is declaring life to you. Jesus is preparing to set you free.

After Lazarus comes forth from the grave – imagine having been there and seeing a dead guy come back to life and walk – Jesus issues one more command. “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Can you hear Jesus saying that to you right now? Why do we still try to walk around in the clothing of death when Jesus has declared us to be alive? Jesus is telling you to remove the wrappings of guilt and shame, and be free. Jesus has called you to life and freedom. You have been declared innocent based on Christ’s DNA. Choose to participate with Him in unwrapping yourself from any connection to sin and death.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, February 4, 2021

When I was seven years old I made a stink. Literally. The basement of the house we lived in was dark, dank, and delightful for an adventurous boy. Mom’s laundry machines were down there, and all the water from the washing machine would run toward the drain along the outside wall in an open trough. I would sail my boats in the water.

There were also shelves attached to the walls holding jars of home-canned fruit and vegetables. Plus, there was a room filled with coal for the furnace to heat the house. I learned the hard way to stay off what I at first thought was a rock pile.

One day, while exploring in the basement, I found two things that I used to create a mess, even though my intention was to be productive. On the floor under the shelving, I found a flowerpot filled with dirt. On the shelves was a jar of mustard seed. I remembered my Sunday School lesson about having faith like a mustard seed, and that those tiny seeds would grow into large bushes. I poured the jar of mustards seeds into the dirt, buried them, and watered them. I placed the pot on the top shelf near the small window in the top of the wall. I had faith that I would soon see how large a mustard bush would become.

Seven-year old boys are forgetful, especially those as active as me. A few weeks later I heard my parents talking about the awful smell in the basement. I remembered my horticultural experiment and went down to check. It really stunk. There was no plant, just a stinky decomposing mess of mustard seeds. I showed it to my parents. Fortunately, they laughed.

When Jesus arrived in Bethany after the death of Lazarus, the seed had already been planted in the ground. Decomposition had begun. Except for the stone that covered the grave, there would be an awful smell. The smell of death captivated the minds of Martha and Mary. Their focus on stink blinded them to the truth of resurrection.

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39)

Death stinks, and if all we have in life is a focus on death, then life stinks too. How often does the stink of life’s circumstances blind us to the truth of the resurrection power of God in us? We can choose to focus on the stink, or we can hear the words of Jesus when He says, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)

But that is not the end. When we focus on the life of Jesus in us, we become a sweet aroma of life to others who can only smell the stink of life. The Apostle Paul says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”  (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

Here are two thoughts to ponder:

1. What are you smelling?
2. How do you smell to others?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

I have a problem. Please don’t start a list and send it to me. I know I have many problems. But the one problem I want to focus on today is illustrated by this story.

Grandkids are fantastic. But occasionally something happens at our house and we aren’t made aware of it until days later when we find the damage. One day, as I was walking through the family room, I noticed a broken collectible. I took it from the shelf where it had been skillfully placed to disguise the damage and I went upstairs. My first question to my wife was, “Who did this?”

That’s a problem. Why do we so quickly want to blame others for undesirable outcomes?  Why do we criticize people when our expectations aren’t met? Did it really matter at that point who broke the figurine, or should I have recognized that my grandchildren were afraid of my reactions, so they tried to hide what they did?

In John eleven, Mary and Martha respond to the arrival of Jesus in much the same way as I do. When Jesus is approaching, Martha goes to meet him, while Mary stays in the house. Martha wants to make sure Jesus understands how things could have been different. Her first words to Jesus were. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Why did Mary stay in the house? Maybe she was too consumed with the dangerous mixture of grief and anger. We know that when she finally came out of the house and spoke to Jesus, she also said exactly what Martha had said. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”The ladies had obviously talked about this. They had decided that someone needed to be blamed, so they blamed the One who they thought could have prevented the death of their brother.

We are far too often like Mary and Martha. Things don’t turn out according to our plans, so we seek to blame someone else. Maybe the reason is that we look at life from a human perspective and not from God’s perspective. We have predetermined an outcome that best suits our current goals in life, when instead we could be expecting an outcome that glorifies God. Our perspective will determine our response.

Our pride is powerful. We believe that the way we want life to turn out is the best way for it to happen. We place more value on things than we do on people’s feelings. We explode in frustration because something we value wasn’t treasured by others the way we treasure it. We would rather defend our rights than seek to understand the perspective of others. So we criticize and blame people for interfering with our self-defined sources of happiness.

I am thankful that Martha recognized her problem. Right after she blurted out her blame of Jesus, she recovered by saying, “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” If only that had been her first thought. If only it was mine.

Lord, make my first thought always be what you can do, and not what I think I have lost.

Pastor John