LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

The United States is no longer a melting pot of cultures. A melting pot requires all the cultures to be dissolved into one. That is not happening anymore. People from all over the world have come to America and created their own little communities to maintain their language and cultural distinctions. They no longer desire to be Americanized, but they do desire to enjoy the freedoms and blessing of living in this land. This has caused some in our country to rise up in revolt against what is happening. I have heard it said, “If they can’t speak our language then they shouldn’t be considered citizens.” We are becoming a bigoted and biased people, forming barriers where they don’t belong.

As Christians we have the incredible gift of the Gospel that is able to break down all cultural barriers. We may not understand all the cultural distinctions of people from other nations, and we may not believe we have anything in common with them, but we do. We are all sinners and need to be saved, and the Gospel message of Jesus Christ is understood equally by all, no matter what their culture.

Romans 16:25-27 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him – to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Paul relates to us the heart of God in today’s Scripture passage. The Old Testament references to the Messiah and Savior which seemed like a mystery are now revealed to us by the direct command of the eternal God so that all people can understand the Gospel message that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior of the world. He also states that when anyone believes and accepts the message of Jesus, God will establish them forever as His. The Greek word translated “establish” means “to turn resolutely in a certain direction and make stable, permanently fixing the position.” WOW! I like that. God is able by His almighty power to take any life from any land and turn it around so that it is fixed on Him!

That should be our starting point with all people of all cultures. Every person in the world understands right and wrong, and has the ability to understand sin and its consequences. Therefore, every person in the world should be given the opportunity to hear the Good News that sin and its consequences have been conquered, providing a way for them to be forgiven and restored to permanent relationship with God.

It may be that we will need to learn a little of their culture in order to tell them the message, but not always. When I have gone to the Philippines or to India to minister the Gospel to unreached people in the tribes, I have seen God move powerfully to touch their hearts with the simple message of salvation before I knew anything about how they lived.

We live in our land where other cultures are coming to us. Instead of spending so much time and energy trying to get them to act like Americans, let’s work hard to get them to act like disciples of Jesus Christ. We may never have anything more in common with them than our faith, but isn’t that enough?

Reach out to those whom you have considered different and unreachable. The starting point is the same for us all, and God will cause all nations to believe and obey Him if we will share the Good News.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, June 24, 2019

In March of 1975 the worst snowstorm I have ever experienced happened while I was living in North Dakota. It was Easter weekend, and my fiancé Denise had come home from college for the holiday. It started snowing on Good Friday, and by the time it was all done we had received over 40 inches of snow along with the famous winds of the plains, causing huge drifts that shut down the entire region for days.

I had not seen Denise for several weeks, and there was no way that I was going to stay at my home and not be able to spend some time with her, no matter what the cost. Her parent’s house was less than 3 blocks from mine, so I set out to walk over there. I put on my boots and snow pants and parka and hat and gloves and went out into the blizzard.

The snowdrifts in the streets were well over 6 feet deep, and they were not heavily packed, so my progress was slow and did not even resemble walking. It was more like stepping, sinking, digging, climbing, and sinking some more. Finally, after almost an hour, I arrived at her home, totally exhausted and covered with sweat. It was the hardest 3 blocks I have ever traveled, but it was made possible by the prize at the end.

If only we could apply the same determination to accomplishing the task the Lord Jesus has given us – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. If only we could have the same compelling of the Holy Spirit that Paul had so that no matter what the cost to personal safety, security, or secular success we would consider His purpose as supreme in our priority structure.

Acts 20:22-24 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

We do have the same compelling of the Holy Spirit, but we may not have the same surrender of life that Paul had. It is possible that many of us do not have witnessing as the top item on our priority list of things to do today. Most of us have personal goals and timelines in mind. We have jobs, families, bills, and recreation to take care of today, and with the time that is left we may consider testifying to someone about God’s marvelous grace that makes it all possible. How sad, that we give mental assent to Jesus as Lord but live as though we are lord of our own lives.

Paul considered any pursuit of his own life’s goals as worthless and meaningless compared to completing God’s task for his life. Let’s understand that our task is the same as Paul’s. Maybe we are called to carry it out differently, not as missionaries or pastors but as disciples, but the task is the same – to testify to others of the gospel of God’s grace given to us in the Person of Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Let’s rethink our list of priorities for today.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, June 21, 2019

From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth He preached the Good News of the kingdom of heaven. In describing the kingdom and its inhabitants He went into great detail about many issues of faith, but the beginning point of his teaching and preaching is always the same. He is always calling people to repentance. In Mark’s Gospel we read, “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” It would be wise for us to adopt the same style as the Master.

Matthew 4:17-23 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria…

Unfortunately, we have been drawn into a so-called contemporary model of witnessing that is socially acceptable, politically correct, and non-confrontational. This “new and improved” model of reaching the lost has been called by different names and described by different phrases, like “seeker-sensitive”, “tolerant” and “felt needs-based”. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not condemning sensitivity to people’s needs, but in an attempt to be more acceptable and appealing to people we have put the cart way before the horse. Now the horse is running loose and not even connected to the cart any more. Let me explain.

From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He preached repentance and the Good News of the coming kingdom. He challenged people to believe in the Gospel of the kingdom and revealed three things to them through His life, death, and resurrection:

• that He was the Way into that kingdom;
• that He is the only Truth;
• and that He is the only source of real Life.

The entire message of the Gospel could be summed up in this way: Man’s way is wrong, so turn from it and turn to Jesus, choosing eternal life over the temporary. Even though as time went on Jesus modeled a variety of methods to get that point across, like feeding the hungry and comforting the grieving and healing the sick, He never stopped preaching repentance. He was compassionate, caring, and a selfless servant to others, and He always addressed the real human need – repentance and faith in God.

As followers of Jesus, we would be wise to return to a message of repentance. The hard part of doing that is that it requires a focus on the wrong way of mankind. We have been focusing on making people feel good about who they are and what they are doing so that we will earn the right to tell them about a better way. When we do that, we set ourselves up to have to prove to others that our way is better, and we give them the right to defend their way as better. We spend far too much time trying to teach them a better way when we should be preaching to them the only Way!

There is a huge difference between teaching and preaching. The primary meaning of the word “teach” means “to hold discourse with another”, meaning that it is a discussion where ideas are presented. Preaching on the other hand is “to proclaim truth as a herald”. Scripture does not reveal Jesus teaching repentance, but rather He preaches repentance. It is proclaimed as a truth, but never discussed as an option. That is where Jesus started His ministry, and that is where He continued it.

We must start in the same place with people. I understand it is important for people to know we care about them and their needs, but their greatest need is salvation from sin. That’s where Jesus started with people. That’s where we should start. Yes, we care. Yes, we are compassionate. Yes, we meet people’s needs. But let it be said that first we tell them the truth. Their condition is caused by sin, and it is only in repentance and believing the Gospel that their real needs can be met. That is where witnessing must begin.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, June 20, 2019

In 1958 I became a baseball fan. Not only did I play it every chance I had, but I listened to it on the radio whenever I could sneak into the bedroom and change the channel on dad’s radio. I was captivated by the exploits of a certain right fielder named Al Kaline, who was at that time the youngest player to ever play in the major leagues, having made his professional debut in 1953 at age 19. He was my hero. I dreamed of playing the outfield like Mr. Kaline.

I remained a Detroit Tigers baseball fan for many years after that, and celebrated World Series victories in 1968 and 1984. Since 1987 I have lost a lot of interest in following the Tigers closely for a lot of different reasons. I stopped wearing Detroit baseball caps, and I couldn’t even tell you who started at all of the positions on their team last year, even though I can still tell you who played in 1968. If you want to know about the present or the future of Tiger baseball, don’t ask me – I’ve become an apathetic fan.

Many people are just like me as a baseball fan when it comes to their relationship with Jesus Christ. I could list dozens of people I have known over the years who as children went to Sunday School and church and professed to be followers of Jesus, but are now living in the world without any visible evidence that they still follow Him. They no longer behave in a way that reflects a personal interest in God’s plan for their lives. If you asked them they may be able to tell you some historical memories of an experience they had with God years ago, but it has no relevant value to their lives today. There is nothing presently real about a relationship with God, and they certainly give no indication that they desire a future with Him.

These are the people to whom Isaiah is writing in today’s Scripture passage. They have wandered away from following God and don’t even know that He still loves them and that He is at work to bring them back into a meaningful relationship with Himself.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

People need to hear the Good News that God has not given up on them and that He is still in control. They need a messenger with the Good News to tell them about the peace that is possible in their lives when they are right with God. They need to hear the news that all things work together for good to them that are in Christ Jesus and live according to His purpose. They need to be reminded of the incredible gift of salvation and that it includes deliverance from all the emotional and physical bondage they are in. They need to hear that God still reigns.

The fascinating part of this challenge to us from God is this: when they hear the Good News, they will consider the messenger to be beautiful. We succumb to stereotyping all backsliders as unreachable. We tend to think that they are too hardened to rescue. We think a first-time hearer will listen better than a previous hearer who has turned his back on what he once heard. There is truth to the hardening of a heart with consistent rejection, but that is not an excuse for us to stop seeking out those who have fallen away to bring them the Good News that God still forgives and restores. He did it with Israel, over and over again. The Good News is that he will do it with those today who have slipped away from a previous connection.

You are the messenger God has chosen. You will be considered beautiful for taking the message of hope to a person of displaced hope. When they respond to God and return to Him, they will thank you.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find someone who can tell me about the Tigers. Then I’m going to give them Good News.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

If ever there was a passage of Scripture that encapsulates the commission to be witnesses this is it. It is a prophecy of Isaiah that is quoted by Jesus Christ at the beginning of His ministry when He went to Nazareth and proclaimed that it was being fulfilled in His life. It contains all the basic essentials of being a powerful witness for Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

Here are the essentials of personal evangelism:

1. Holy Spirit Empowerment – Jesus promised us the same power that equipped Him to be a witness to the Good News – the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
2. God’s Anointing – this is the consecration of our lives by God to a divine purpose. He has called us and set us apart to be His witnesses. When He saved us by the blood of Jesus, He commissioned us to be His witnesses and anointed us to accomplish that task.
3. Preach the Good News – don’t let this scare you, you don’t have to be a preacher to be a witness. The Hebrew word means to be fresh, or full of cheer when making an announcement. Every day as God works in our lives we are being filled with fresh material to share fully with others. That’s preaching, and you can do it!
4. Compassionate Ministry to the Hurting – a huge part of our witnessing is in our relating to people in their need. Look at what Jesus proclaims:
   1. He will bind up the brokenhearted – be empathetic towards people’s hurts.
   2. Proclaim freedom and release – Jesus recognized that the needs of mankind are first and foremost spiritual, and when the spiritual need is met there is freedom from the bondage and captivity of sin and its consequences.
   3. Comfort for those who mourn – to feel the pain of another’s loss and join them in their grief. In doing so we will accomplish three things in their lives:
   4. Bring back a focus on the beauty of life rather than the ashes of death.
   5. We will be an anointing oil that brings a smile back to their face.
   6. We will assist them in solidifying their faith so that they are able to praise God for Who He is even when the circumstances stink. So complete will be this healing of their spirits that they will be called oaks of righteousness! WOW!
5. A joyful proclamation of Heaven and a fearful proclamation of Hell. All our witnessing must at some point center on the justice of God against all sin and the grace of God to find favor with those who have come to Jesus for salvation.

There they are – the 5 basic elements of all witnessing. Spend some time in prayer right now and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with the joy of witnessing, and be thankful that He has equipped you to do it.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Several years ago, I took a serious fall from a tree stand. Fortunately, the damage to my body was restricted to a torn-up ankle. But the damage to my emotional stability needed to be tested. I remember the first day of the following year’s deer season and I made it up and down the tree stand without incident and without fear.

When my son Jason drove up in the truck and I got all of my stuff loaded, I made sure I grabbed my water bottle and quenched my thirst from the morning hunt. I had walked only a short distance but after 3 hours of sitting and climbing and walking and carrying equipment I was thirsty. That water was sure good, and it was still cold because of the ice I had put in the bottle when I filled it.

I wasn’t really all that weary this morning, but the cold water was just what I needed. It made me think of this verse in Proverbs and gave me a new insight into the analogy Solomon uses.

Proverbs 25:25  Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

The world is filled with weary souls because they are so distant from the land of peace and security. They are living in a strange world that beats them up, holds them down, and offers them no hope of rescue. They are discouraged and desperate for any news that life can be meaningful and productive. They may seem like they have it all together on the outside with their self-made bandages of prosperity and power, but underneath they are filled with fear. They have no stability because all their relief efforts are unstable and offer no guarantees. They know in their hearts that they are simply existing towards death.

Then someone like you or me shows up in their life and offers them a glimpse of a distant land where there is peace and harmony between brothers and sisters. This land is governed by grace and is lush with love. Every resident is accepted and equally qualified to share in the riches of the landowner. And every resident is thrilled to be able to tell all of those living in the land of death that there is always room for one more person in the land of the living.

“There’s Good News!” We shout it to any and all who will listen. “You can move into our land! There is plenty here for you. You will not be a foreigner but a friend. I can show you how.”

When was the last time you had the wonderful privilege of bringing a cup of cold water to a weary traveler who was looking for the land of the living? Maybe today will be your day.

Fill my cup, Lord, so I’m ready to give the living water to a weary soul.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, June 17, 2019

I have spent many hours in the waiting rooms of hospitals with the families of patients having surgery. I have shared their anxiety over the outcome. I have experienced the tension as the nurse reports that the doctor will be out shortly. I have looked into the face of the doctor to see if I can tell if the news is good or bad as he approaches us. Their training makes it difficult to know what they have to say until they begin to speak. After waiting for several hours, we are hoping for good news of healing and restoration. It has been an emotional journey filled with doubts and questions, and now the time has come to hear the news. When the news is good, there is a shared sigh of relief and a spoken word of praise from all of us. When the news is bad, there is a shared gasp of concern and a barrage of questions to be answered.

Consider the analogy of these situations to the situation in which the Israelites found themselves in 2 Kings 7. The city has come under siege by the Arameans, and the people are starving. Their situation is so pathetic that they have turned to cannibalism, eating their own children. But Elisha announces that God is going to deliver them.

2 Kings 7:9 “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

Then this happens:

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’ – the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.” At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.” So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there – not a sound of anyone – only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

Imagine a doctor completing a serious surgery successfully, and then going directly to the doctor’s lounge to brag about his accomplishment to his colleagues rather than going to the waiting family with the good news.

Now imagine a person who has met Jesus and been rescued from the consequences of their sin and been given the gift of eternal life keeping that news to themselves. Yet that is exactly what happens far too often. We have discovered that the enemy no longer lays siege to our lives, the spiritual famine has been lifted, and the former encampment of the enemy is now filled with the blessings of God for our taking. Yet we keep it to ourselves. Let’s go at once and share this good news so that the city is filled with the joy of salvation and all can share in the rescue the Lord has provided from the siege of sin.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, June 14, 2019

I suspect that there is a common thread of thinking throughout much of evangelical Christianity today that goes like this: “Let’s build the church.” While many would make that statement referring to people and not to buildings, far too many are swayed by image-consciousness into measuring their success as a church by material standards. We like sports, so the church must have a gym. We like music, so the church must have a great sound system. We like fellowship, so the church must have a great kitchen. We like pulpits, so the church must have a traditional platform. Very quickly the focus of what we want in a building becomes an expression of personal preference rather than a desire to effectively bring people to Jesus Christ for salvation. Kitchens and sound systems and gyms are all ok in a church, so long as the reason they are there is to bring more people into the kingdom of God and not just to meet our own personal needs.

But that’s not even the real problem with the statement “Let’s build the church.” Compare that statement to Christ’s words in our scripture passage for today.

Matthew 16:15-18 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Doesn’t Jesus clearly say that He will build the church? Yes, He does! We have taken ownership of something that doesn’t belong to us. We are not in charge of the harvest. We are only called to be laborers in the harvest field, and we have been equipped to be witnesses. Follow along with my understanding of Scriptural truth.

1. Peter was commended for declaring a God-given truth that did not originate in human reason: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. His confession was not deduced from human logic or human teaching, but was understood only by direct communication from God. He states that Jesus is the complete and perfect revelation of God in human form sent to earth to save people from the bondage of sin. He may not have fully understood the theology of his statement, but later it was revealed that he clearly proclaimed that Christ, the Messiah, would make possible a spiritual kingdom and provide a way of entrance into that kingdom for all mankind.
2. Next, Jesus stated that it is on this truth that the church will be built. Peter was not declared to be the founder of the church. His name was changed to Peter at this point so that we would be reminded of the true foundation – Jesus Christ.
3. Finally, Jesus declared that He alone is responsible for building the church. In other places He invites His followers to participate in the process, but never does He put us in charge of the harvest. We are given responsibilities of planting and watering and gathering in the crop, but we are not in charge of producing the crop. When Jesus invites us to participate in the process, He says He will send the Holy Spirit upon us to equip us for our particular task, whether it is planting, watering, or reaping. He describes all those activities by one word – witnessing. He says in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Please notice carefully that we have not been given power to build, but to witness. Jesus Christ alone is responsible for the building. Our responsibility is singular – tell the world that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Understanding these truths is what makes it possible for people to travel to the other side of the world into sometimes dangerous situations as missionaries. They understand that Jesus will build His church, and the gates of hell will not be able to stop it. We are empowered to be the messengers of the Good News of the kingdom, that Jesus Christ saves lives from sin!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, June 13, 2019

As a sophomore at Bethel College in St. Paul, I really wanted to play basketball. I had tried out for the college team as a freshman and made the team, starting several games, but my heart really wasn’t in it and I quit midway through the season. I was never an athlete that enjoyed training, but wanted the thrill of competition. I soon discovered that the thrill of playing was not what it should have been for me. Rather than it being an expression of who I was it became an attempt to earn favor from others. When I couldn’t measure up to the standards I had set for myself to validate myself, I quit.

The next year my brother came to college, and we started an intramural team to compete in the intra-school league. Not only did we have to play against other student teams, but we also had to play against the coaches of the team I had quit. I remember that first game with them. It was halftime, and we were losing. I was the tallest member of our team, and the head basketball coach at Bethel was 6’8”. Needless to say, I was not measuring up. I was not being aggressive, and the other team was winning the inside game. My brother came to have a talk with me and said, “John, your heart isn’t in it. You’re doggin’. You are better than him, and the team needs you to step it up.”

I decided right then and there that I would get with it. Not just for that game, but for my whole life. I decided that I would put my heart into everything I did. I played my heart out in the second half, and not only did we win that game, but we won a lot of games that year, and if my memory serves me well I believe we were the league champions. I concluded that serving self was not working and that serving others would be a much better way to live.

So what part of what my brother said really motivated me? It certainly wasn’t the criticisms. I just needed to hear that someone believed in me. I needed to know that I was accepted for who I was rather than for whom I thought I should be. And when I discovered that, I was able to put my whole heart into what I did. I still had a long way to go, and I still messed up in a lot of ways, but my journey of faith to serve God with my whole heart and soul began at halftime of a basketball game.

Deut. 10:12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to…serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The God of all creation has singled you out to be a unique and precious part of His Son’s body called the church. You have been specifically equipped to serve Him by the Holy Spirit. He has poured out His love into your heart and accepted you and qualified you to be a partaker of the inheritance with all the saints in glory. You already measure up, and God believes in you because His Son lives in you. Give Him your whole heart and serve Him with all your strength.

There is a worship song that we sing that goes like this:

Lord, I give You my heart, I give You my soul,

                        I live for You alone

            Every breath that I take, every moment I’m awake

Lord have Your way with me.

May that be your prayer today and every day as you walk by faith.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

So far in our study of a disciple’s job description, we’ve learned to have:

1. an awesome reverence of Him for who He is even when circumstances don’t seem to reflect His nature; and,
2. a lifestyle that reflects the character of Christ so that we walk in life as He walked when on this earth.

The next requirement of God for His followers is simply stated this way – to love him.

Deut. 10:12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to…love him,

2 John 1:6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

These two passages of God’s Word show us the connection between walking in all His ways and loving Him. Love is declared to be a walk of obedience to God’s commands. As we look further we discover Jesus summarizing all of God’s commands with one command – that we walk in love.

Our human nature leans heavily upon performance. We find ourselves trapped by the belief that being a Christian can be reduced to obedience to a list of rules and regulations. We measure our spiritual maturity by the number of checkmarks we have next to items on the list, with each checkmark representing a “victory” over what we call sin. Don’t smoke or drink – that’s two checkmarks. Don’t dance or play cards – two more checks. Read only the King James Version of the Bible – another check. Don’t go to movies and don’t associate with anyone who does any of the things on our list – check, check, and more checks. These lists are nothing more than a self-imposed standard of righteousness designed to artificially inflate our spiritual value in our own eyes.

The natural progression of such a performance-based mentality is that we elevate our own spiritual position even higher by comparing our list and the number of checkmarks on it to the lists of others. We become critical and judgmental of all who have not “achieved” what we have “achieved”.  We become exactly like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time whom He called “children of their father the devil”. If we are ever confronted with the possibility that we could be like the Pharisees, we storm out of the church and flood the community with criticisms of the pastor and people. We inflict irreparable damage and pain on the Body of Christ. Somehow, we believe we are satisfying the Spirit of God and being obedient to His commands.

We have but one path to walk to be in complete obedience to God – LOVE! Jesus breaks it down into two parts, but it is still all love. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Why do we so quickly fall into comparative spirituality with fellow humans when the standard of love and righteousness is Christ and not man? How can we get so deep into self-validation that we diminish and destroy the work of grace in the life of another person? Here’s why, because we love self more than we love God. That is the simple truth, yet we deny that it is true for us.

We deny that we are attempting to earn love from God by our checklists. We deny the spiritual bondage that exists in our life that causes us to self-validate our spiritual maturity through comparisons with other Christians. We do not yet understand the marvelous message of Grace: all are sinners, all can be forgiven equally by Jesus Christ, and all who are forgiven are unconditionally and fully accepted by God and qualified as an equal heir with Christ of all things! There is no distinction!

Hallelujah! That’s love. And because of that love we can love God and love others. The lifestyle of love will create an atmosphere in our lives where the Holy Spirit will be able to generate the character of Jesus Christ, which will then be reflected in our lifestyle choices. Those choices will be motivated by love for Christ, not the desire to earn love from Christ, and certainly not from the desire to appear more spiritual than someone else.

The only distinctive characteristic of the Christian’s walk is love. Nothing more is required. Nothing less is desired by those who truly know Him.

Let love be lived!

Pastor John