LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, March 26, 2024

When I was in high school in the Twin Cities, with a graduating class of 825, I was an unnoticed nerd – or at least I thought I was. I was very insecure, I hated my appearance, and I had nothing that identified me except my trombone, and according to the cool kids, band was for geeks. But one day in English class, one of the most popular girls in school came up to me and said, “I love it when you wear blue because it brings out the color of your eyes. I love blue too.” Well, you can imagine how I felt after they revived me from fainting. I had found a connection point to the cool kids. I wore blue every day. I started to choose my clothing carefully, and I became one of the best-dressed kids in school. No jeans ever. Only dress pants and nice shirts and sweaters. All my clothes had to be the latest fashion. I even wore shirts with French cuffs and cufflinks, and they were always blue, except for one purple one. I was compelled to make a good impression outwardly. No one had ever noticed me for who I was inwardly, and I didn’t believe they ever would. For sure if they saw the real me they would reject me, and there was no way I was about to put myself through that pain. No one wants to be persecuted for who they are.

Now, let’s make an application to our spiritual lives. In Galatians chapter 6 the Apostle Paul makes this point – don’t use an external image of religious conformity to avoid the pain of rejection.

Galatians 6:12-15 “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.”

The Judaizers, those Jewish Christians who believed that salvation was only available to those who believed in Jesus and conformed to the Jewish law, were trying to force Gentile Christians to get circumcised. I don’t believe they were doing this because they theologically believed it, but because they socially needed it for their own approval rating. They could remain active in their Jewish sub-culture if they minimized the effect of the cross and kept some of their socially and religiously accepted traditions.

How often are we guilty of this in our lives? We add an external appearance or behavior standard to the message of the cross so that we can stay in our comfort zone and be recognized as superior to others? But let’s be clear about this. The message of the cross is simple and powerful. By the shed blood of Jesus as God’s sacrifice for our sin, all sin is forgiven in the life of any person who repents and receives its cleansing power by faith. At that instant they are made a new creation by the power of the resurrected Christ in them. 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” They are blessed with every spiritual blessing from on high. Ephesians 1:3 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” They are made joint heirs of all eternity with all the saints in glory, including you and me. Romans 8:16-17 – “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Everyone who believes is equally saved!  

There is the very real possibility that within your family or your circle of friends, or even in your church, that you will be rejected and persecuted for living this way. Yet Paul was so convinced of the power of the cross that he said he would never boast about anything else in his life except that. He did not take pride in his pattern of behavior or in his theology and use those things as a means of gaining acceptance with anyone. He simply loved what Jesus did on the cross. He simply loved people who love what Jesus did on the cross. He knew that the power to affect the external had to come from the power of the eternal in them. 

When the Holy Spirit brings the new creation of Christ into a spiritually dead person, His ministry is just beginning. He will bring the external changes necessary to complete His work. He uses all of us to help influence that development, but we must be willing to let the finished work be unique, not cloned. What we do for Christ must be for the glory of the cross, not for the approval of people.

 Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, March 25, 2024

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ must remain the central focus of all that we are and all that we do. That is the conclusion to which Paul attempts to bring the church at Corinth as he opens his first letter to them. You may remember that this church was going through a lot of difficulties, and the first major issue that Paul addresses is the tendency churchgoers have to be people-followers. There were divisions in the church because some people liked Apollos better than Paul or Peter, and some were even taking pride in the fact that they had stayed true to Jesus. They were arguing and bickering about who taught better, who led better, and who gave them the best spiritual benefits.

In addressing these divisions, Paul makes it clear that the following of any human wisdom diminishes the power of the cross in our personal lives and in the life of the church.

1 Corinthians 1:17-18 “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

When the focus and form of our teaching and preaching becomes self-centered rather than Christ-centered, we lose power. Let me illustrate.  Once there was a professional football team that had incredible talent but couldn’t win the big games, primarily because the focus of the team was on an individual rather than the purpose of the team. It was so bad that free agents from other teams were refusing to even consider becoming a part of this team. Then it happened – the team changed its focus from the problems caused by an individual to the goal of accomplishing their purpose, and a huge change occurred. Weaknesses in the team were suddenly made strengths. Free agents from other teams were anxious to become a part of the organization. Franchise players from other teams are begging to be traded to this team. Why? Because the self-centered focus has been replaced with a team spirit based on a unified purpose.

That’s what must happen in the church. People must move from a self-centered, people-following, people-pleasing lifestyle to one of surrendered, sacrificial commitment to Christ and His purpose. When it does, people who are not part of the body of Christ will want to be. They will ask to join us because that is the power of the cross.

We hear a lot today about the progressive church, and one of the characteristics of such churches is a non-offensive presentation of the Gospel. I have a very serious question in that regard: How can the Gospel message of the cross of Christ be non-offensive to an unbeliever when Paul states here in today’s Scripture that the cross is considered foolishness to the unsaved, and in Galatians 5:11 he states that if the Gospel is compromised in any way the cross loses its offense to the unsaved?

So many churches today are avoiding the real issue of people’s lives by speaking only to the perceived or surface issues because they believe it will attract more people and offend fewer people. My friends, I do not wish to purposely offend anyone, but I most definitely will not offend my Lord and Savior by turning the church or the ministry to which He has called me into an effort of human wisdom. I will preach the cross of Jesus Christ, and those who respond will be transformed by the power of God and not by human reason. And they will respond, because the power of God will draw them to the place where their spiritual need can be truly met in Christ. May we all, in the power of the resurrected Christ, boldly tell others about the power of the cross to save people from sin and death. 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, March 22, 2024

There’s another wonderful truth about the death of Jesus Christ our Savior from Acts chapter two that we read yesterday. It answers to the criticism that Jesus was weak and therefore deserved to die. Peter makes it very clear that it was not because of the weakness of Jesus or His failure that He was put to death, but rather by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God.

Acts 2:23 “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”

This is so very important for several reasons:

1.      Man can take no credit for anything that has been done for our salvation. No man or government can claim any credit or be given any specific blame for the crucifixion of Christ. The religious leaders of Israel cannot now claim any reward from God for having been willing participants in the plan of salvation. The Romans cannot claim any earned favor from God for having done what He wanted. All participants in the crucifixion are called wicked, and all the credit for it goes to God who ordained it to happen. Salvation is God’s plan done God’s way in God’s time.

2.      The crucifixion of Jesus does not cancel the validating of Jesus that came through the miracles, wonders, and signs, but rather is a part of the accrediting process. Only by death could the power and glory of Jesus be seen in a resurrection. We know from yesterday’s devotional that it was the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, but look carefully again at the phrase, “it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Itpoints directly to the divinity of Jesus. Eternal life was the nature of Jesus. Death had no power over Him. He went into it knowing He would conquer it. His resurrection was more than the outside force of God working on His dead body to raise it up; His resurrection was the force and power of His own nature coming forth. He is declared to be the Son of God by His resurrection. Romans 1:3-4 says, “regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

How does this apply to us in a practical way today? First, none of us can take any credit for our salvation in any way. God planned it, provided for it, and prepared us to receive it. We have earned nothing. We have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus, and we are to live lives of gratitude and praise for His magnificent grace!

Second, in our salvation Jesus Christ, in the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit, has made our lives into a temple in which He permanently resides, bringing the power of His life to conquer our death. We are alive in Christ because it is now our nature to be alive. When we do the deeds of a dead person we are acting in contradiction to our nature. So many people claim that it is easier to fall back into sin than it is to stay holy. This points to a serious lack of understanding of their salvation. It is always easier to follow our nature, and in Christ our nature is to live, not to die. It should be more natural for us to be holy than to sin, and if it is not, then we need some spiritual refreshment.

Spend time today contemplating the wonder of your salvation, and when you are experiencing the joy of that moment, you will discover that the nature of Jesus Christ is constantly conquering any thoughts of sin so that the resurrection power of Jesus Christ reigns supreme in you. How awesome to know that Jesus lives, and He lives in us, giving us the power to be more than conquerors over sin and death.  

Have a joyous day of victory.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, March 21, 2024

When Peter stood up to preach the first sermon ever delivered under the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, he became the first Gospel evangelist, and his sermon was very simple. It presented to the people the truth that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah based on His death and resurrection.

In these days leading up to Easter and beyond, we are going to look at some of the various New Testament passages on the cross and resurrection, and discover some wonderful truths about God’s indescribable gift of salvation to us. For today, let’s look at one thing from Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter two.

Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

Peter tells the people that they know who Jesus is because God accredited Him to them by the miracles, wonders, and signs God performed through Him. Jesus was affirmed as the Son of God by the supernatural work of God in His life, and these unsaved people to whom Peter was preaching knew it. They had not yet placed their faith in Him, but in their heads they knew who Jesus was. I find that to be all too true in our world today – people who have head knowledge of the truth, but it has not yet penetrated their heart. They will admit that they know the truth about Jesus, and have seen His work in the lives of His followers, but they deny any need to surrender their own life to Him.

There is one part of a sentence in the last paragraph that should jump out at us with conviction. It is this – “and have seen His work in the lives of His followers.” They may have heard about Jesus, but have they really seen the resurrection power of Jesus at work in the lives of His followers? What a challenge this is to us. Is God continuing to accredit the reality of Jesus to a lost world through His powerful work in us as believers? Oh, we may not all be gifted to do miracles and signs and wonders, but we are all gifted with the Holy Spirit who produces the character of Christ in our lives so that the fruit of the Spirit is visible. When love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control rule our lives, God is affirming the reality of Jesus Christ to a world that does not know Him.

In Ephesians 1, 18-20, Paul the Apostle says, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” The same power that God exerted when He raised Jesus from the dead is the power that He exerts in us when He raises us from spiritual death to new life in Christ. You see, God is still accrediting Christ to the world through the miracle of a transformed life. How are we doing at showing it and living it? 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, March 20, 2024

It was their first night. They enthusiastically joined sixty-five other children between the ages of four and fifth grade at the County Fair.  Not a real fair, but real enough to all of them – complete with farmers and fruit and animal noises. There was singing and games and crafts and of course stories, as the children were taught how to harvest the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. I am referring to the Son Harvest County Fair at church for Vacation Bible School.
It was their first night. They enthusiastically joined sixty-five other children between the ages of four and fifth grade at the County Fair.  Not a real fair, but real enough to all of them – complete with farmers and fruit and animal noises. There was singing and games and crafts and of course stories, as the children were taught how to harvest the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. I am referring to the Son Harvest County Fair at church for Vacation Bible School.

One night the class of first-graders that my wife and I are teaching was a little smaller. On Monday we had fifteen of them. Last night we had twelve, and two of them were there for the first time. Both listened intently as Mrs. Van told them the stories of the lost coin and the lost sheep. They could relate to losing things. They knew how to rejoice when Mrs. Van found the candy and the coin she had lost.

When she was done it was my turn to talk to the class. I asked them if they had ever been lost. Several said they had, but that someone had come looking for them. It was perfectly planned by the Holy Spirit. I told them how they were lost from God, and that God loved them so much that He sent someone to look for them. They knew His name – Jesus. They listened intently. God was at work in their hearts.

Then came the time to ask them if there were any of them that would like to come with me to another room and talk some more about what Jesus did to find them. Several said yes. Both first timers were in the group that followed me and two assistants to a rare location in our church – an empty room. We sat with legs crossed on the floor. I needed help to get up when we were done. I didn’t care how much it hurt because there were children hungry to hear how to be found by Jesus.

When the time came I asked each of them personally whether they were sinners. Each one said yes. I asked each one individually if they had ever asked Jesus to forgive them for their sin. Two of them said they had. I rejoiced with them for a moment and explained that they were permanently the children of God. They smiled. I was bursting inside. There were three that said they had never talked to God about forgiveness. One by one I asked each of them if they wanted Jesus to find them tonight and be forgiven for their sin. They all said yes!  Two of them were the two first timers.

Hallelujah!  Can you hear the angels?

Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

We prayed, and they repeated the prayer. One little girl really impacted my heart, because she prayed with such enthusiasm and meaning. It was the new girl to the class. It was possibly her first time ever exposed to the gospel, and she responded to God’s incredible offer of forgiveness.

I hope I never ever ever get bored or tired with the presentation of forgiveness that is available through Jesus Christ! I pray that more often than not I get to be a part of the heavenly rejoicing that takes place when one sinner repents and receives God’s forgiveness in Christ the Lord. I hope there is no amount of discomfort or inconvenience that would ever keep me from doing what Jesus did – seeking the lost so that they might be saved.

I sure hope the same is true of you.

I pray that you know the forgiveness of God. If not, I want you to know Jesus is looking for you, and He has set up a connecting point to meet you. Just go to cross. He’s waiting there to show you His love.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, March 19, 2024

In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Time magazine, the satellite’s primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter’s magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target.

But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter’s immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; then Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion miles. By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. Perhaps most remarkable is that those signals emanate from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light. The signals take more than nine hours to reach Earth.

The Little Satellite That Could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going. (How many of you just saw a bunny with a drum?) Pioneer 10 has accomplished more than anyone thought possible. It just keeps doing what it was designed to do.

When we consider the reasons we tend to give up and quit in various areas of our lives, we must dig deep enough to reach the primary cause. When we do, we will discover that there is one thing lacking that has caused us to not persevere, and that thing is love. Follow along closely here. We have been designed by God to love. But let’s make sure we are defining love correctly. Love, according to the Designer, is a choice to sacrifice one’s own well-being, preferences, and pleasure for the sake of another. God demonstrated that kind of love to all of us when He sent Jesus to die for us while we were still in our sin (Romans 5:8). Since we have been created in the image of God, and God is love, then the compelling force behind everything we accomplish is love. If we quit before we reached the conclusion, then we really didn’t love what we were doing. We don’t quit on what we really love.

This may sound like an oversimplification to some of you, but in reality it is as deep and complex as it needs to be. We have not persevered because we have not truly loved. We have given up on marriages, friendships, careers, and goals because we chose to pursue our own well-being, preferences, and pleasure rather than those of the person or plan we claimed to have loved. When times got tough we chose to move into self-protection mode. In other words, we chose to love self more than anything. 

If Pioneer 10 had been given the right to choose, it would have had limitless options when it was launched. But the designer programmed only one course. Our Designer programmed into us one true course also, but gave us a choice. When we came to Christ for salvation, we were supposed to have surrendered the right to choose. When the choice was made to follow Jesus, the Designers course was to become our only course. But we have wrongly reserved the right to continue to choose, and that’s why we can’t persevere. That’s why Jesus warned us that we are not worthy to be His disciples if we put our hands to the plow and then look back at other options. We have become the puppets of love for self, and we change our course as often as we change our minds. “Keep your options open” has become the buzzword of Satan that grabs our attention. The bottom line is that we are in love with us, and not truly living in the love of God.

But God has designed us for something much greater, and He has given us an earthly example to follow. Jesus Christ, because of His sincere and undying love for the Father, persevered to the point of shedding His blood to accomplish God’s purpose. In today’s Scripture passage in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, Paul says, “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” 

It is love for God, and the complete trust in God’s love for us that compels us to persevere as Christ did. So the next time you’re considering giving up and quitting on a person, a goal, or on God, check your heart. You’ll probably find that you have lost your first love, and your love for self has become the compelling force that drives your decisions. Fall to your knees and repent and come back to the Designer’s love. He knows how far you will be able to go.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, March 18, 2024

Have you ever started an exercise program with good intentions of reaching a goal, but then quit before reaching the goal? I’ve done it too many times. 

Each of us has areas in our lives where we have been hindered from accomplishing a well-intentioned goal. How we respond to that hindrance is an indication of how strongly we believe in the goal. Ouch! That hurts, doesn’t it? When we reflect on our lives and all the things we failed to finish, we realize that we have convinced ourselves that they really weren’t that significant after all. That’s the only way we can live with ourselves and dampen the guilt and shame we would otherwise feel. At the time we set the goal it was significant, but we allow hindrances and our inability to persevere to redefine the importance of the goal. If we really stop to think about it, we’re not too happy with ourselves for falling into that pattern.

The solution begins with our true beliefs about what is significant. We get emotionally motivated over many things, but how many of them are finished? The difference between goals that are met and goals that are dropped is not found in the significance of the goal or in the deterrents to reaching the goal, but in the heart of each one of us. We can redefine the significance of the goals and we can blame the hindrances that occur, but in the final analysis the real reason we gave up on the goal was because we changed our minds about its importance. We stopped believing in it. If we are going to be persevering people, then we must be consistent in our belief that the goal is worth any effort.

In our Christian walk with Jesus, there are huge hindrances. We are bombarded every day with cultural messages to fix our eyes on personal pleasure, performance, and protection from rejection. The sin of pride easily entangles us. The benefits and urgency of the immediate redefine the significance of the eternal. We are tempted daily to believe that what we can have from the world now is of far greater importance than what we can have from God later. But let the words of the author of Hebrews sink in.

Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” 

God has set a goal in front of us. It is waiting at the finish line of life. It is the same goal that Jesus had set before Him. That goal is joy – the joy of being accepted into the presence of our Heavenly Father knowing that we persevered and overcame all obstacles so that our lives would reflect His glory. It is the joy of hearing Him personally and intimately say to us, “Well done. You are a good and faithful servant.”  It is the joy of receiving from the Father the full inheritance prepared for us with all the saints in glory. The Apostle Paul says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) So throw off all of the hindrances and untangle yourself from the sins that have held you back, and run the race with perseverance. Run with all your heart. Don’t give up. Fix your eyes on the finish line where Jesus is waiting to give you your crown of glory. 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, March 15, 2024

As a child I remember being fascinated by the life of Abraham Lincoln. He was an incredible example of perseverance. Considered by many to be one of our most significant and successful presidents, his early years didn’t amount to much. He was a man marked for failure by many. He suffered from long periods of depression throughout his life. He could barely see out of one eye. He had frequent nervous attacks, severe headaches, indigestion and nausea. He had a couch placed near his desk in the White House so he could quickly lie down when one of his spells came over him. When Lincoln was 10 years old, he was kicked in the head by a horse and experts now believe that the skull was severely fractured, leaving him with lifelong problems. When he came to deliver the now famous address at Gettysburg, he was coming down with smallpox.

When he was seven years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had to work to help support them. At age nine, his mother died. At twenty-two, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn’t good enough. At twenty-three, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. At twenty-six, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to repay. At twenty-eight, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him. She said no. He was defeated for the legislature in 1832. The next year he suffered another business defeat and in 1836 had a nervous breakdown. He failed to be elected speaker in 1838, was defeated for elector in 1840, and for Congress in 1843, as well as in 1848. At age forty-one, his four-year-old son died. Lincoln failed to be elected to the Senate in 1855, and was defeated for the Vice Presidency in 1856 and for the Senate in 1858. But at age fifty-one, he was elected president of the United States.

Most of us would have given up long before seeing any success. But Abraham Lincoln was a man who used every failure as a building block for the future. He truly modeled the message of Psalm 27 – “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?… I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

Some people are slow starters and may discover God’s purpose for their lives late in life. Abraham Lincoln was such a man. One of the greatest things he ever said about himself was, “I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back.” That is so encouraging to those of us who feel the constant pressure to hurry up and succeed. “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

One of the finest descriptions of a persevering man is Emerson’s brief characterization of Abraham Lincoln when he said: “His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.”  Like the psalmist David, President Lincoln held no memories of wrongs committed against him or wrongs committed by him. He did not look at the darkness caused by his physical frailties, his failures, or his foes. Rather he looked at the light of his salvation and was not afraid. Like the Apostle Paul, he did not consider that he had already achieved all he could, but one thing he did: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, he pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus.” 

It could be that God has called you to accomplish only one great task for Him, and that all the rest of your life is merely preparation for that great heroic responsibility.  Every setback and failure is a building block for the moment God asks you to do something of eternal significance. Be strong! Take heart! Wait for the Lord! Make the most of every opportunity, and let every opportunity make the most out of you. Press on – there is a prize waiting, and it will be hand delivered to you by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, March 14, 2024

Regret is a deadly bondage of Satan. He uses it to keep us tightly bound in the chains of the past. He convinces us that the key God has given us to unlock the chains and be free will not work on our specific sins, shortcomings, and sufferings. After all, how can a key called forgiveness undo and repair all the damage that has been done? Regret causes us to believe we deserve the chains. We allow ourselves to be controlled by our past and believe that our futures have been permanently marred. We contemplate and believe statements like, “Imagine what might have been,” and “If only I hadn’t…” and we become convinced that the future we could have had is far better than the one God will give us. As a result, we fail to rejoice in the present because it is always being compared to an imaginary future which is being controlled by an unforgiven past. We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow.

When the Apostle Paul contemplated his past in Philippians 3:5-6, he had much to remember and much to regret. He remembered the great start he had as a Jew – “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee.”  Then he remembered with regret the sins of misapplication of the truth – “as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” He then tells us he has thought through all of the ramifications of his sins and their lasting effect on his life when he admits that he is not perfect. “Imagine what might have been if I had made a different choice. If only I hadn’t participated in the murder of Stephen.” Paul could have been controlled by the same regrets that bind you and me. But listen to what he says later in the chapter – “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

WOW! Forgiveness from God means that our past sins, shortcomings, and sufferings have no power to control us and that we are still able to pursue a prize that has been specifically chosen by God for us. Satan wants us to believe that the prize is sub-standard to the one we could have had. Forgiveness means that the prize has not changed. Satan wants us to believe that because we cannot undo the past we have a diminished future. Forgiveness means that our future is the glorious work of a God for whom nothing is impossible. We can drown ourselves in regret, lose ourselves in nostalgia, or cling to those old injuries and losses. But if we do, it is our “choice,” not our destiny. Forgiveness guarantees God’s future and it is not based on our failures.

Marjorie Holmes, in an article called “Heart to Heart” in Today’s Christian Woman, writes, “One day, while I was grieving over some past failures, I received a letter from a friend who told me how she and her granddaughter had been watching a plane skywrite. The little girl was puzzled when the words began disappearing, but suddenly piped up, “Maybe Jesus has an eraser!” In her innocent wisdom I realized that just as skywriting disappears, Jesus wipes away all things I so bitterly regret. No matter how much we mature as Christians, and try desperately to compensate, memories of our own failures can rise up and haunt us. But, with God’s forgiveness, they will fade away—Jesus does have an eraser.”

Regret steals the joy of forgiveness and freezes you with fear of the future. God’s truth will set you free from regret and fear. When the guilt of sin and failure has been confessed to the Father with a repentant heart, He forgives the sin and removes the guilt. When we truly grieve over our sin and it brings us to repentance, God removes all regrets. Paul says, “you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief…[and] godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.” (2 Corinthians 7:9 – 10)

Regret is not from God. It is not part of our salvation. It is not a testing of your faith or a trial you must endure. It is only and always the work of Satan to keep you from experiencing the fullness of God’s forgiveness and redeeming work in your life. Forgiveness eliminates regret. So forget the past! God has! Look ahead. God has great things in store for you, but if you keep comparing them to what you think might have been, you’ll miss the joy and the blessing of what really is.  

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, March 13, 2024

As we conclude our study on the subject of forgiveness, we need to carefully look at the words of Jesus in Luke 6 – words that challenge our natural instincts with supernatural responses. Our natural instincts are for retaliation and restitution of our own reputation. But Jesus challenges those instincts with the response of forgiveness – the restoration of relationship. Take a moment to read Luke 6:27-36.

Relationship is of utmost importance to God the Father. It was because of our sin that we were not in relationship with God, yet God initiated the response that corrects the relationship. His actions were not simply a required response: they were the manifestation of His true heart. His provision of forgiveness was based on His love for the offender and His desire to restore the relationship that had been destroyed by the offense. None of us has ever been hurt so deeply as God was hurt by our sin. Yet His love for us as sinners was manifested in the gift of His Son Jesus so that we might be forgiven. There was nothing artificial about what God did. He did not act out of obligation to anything but His true nature. Forgiveness isn’t pretending nothing has happened or pretending that what happened didn’t hurt. Forgiveness springs from a pure and sincere heart of love. Forgiveness is refusing to let anything permanently destroy the relationship.

That’s how we are to forgive others as well. To forgive someone involves three things. First, it means to give up the right to strike back. We reject the urge to repay gossip with gossip and a bad turn with a worse turn. Striking back is of no value in restoring relationships. Second, it means replacing the feeling of resentment and anger with goodwill. That means we give up the right to be right. Instead of defending our position and declaring our rightness, we choose to let our hearts be overwhelmed with the love of God and seek the offender’s welfare. Third, it means the forgiving person takes concrete steps to restore good relations. We become the initiators of actions that model love rather than resentment.

The following story is from an article titled “Your Daffodils are Pretty,” (Christianity Today, March 2, 1979, p. 18), in which Josephine Ligon tells of a family who preached and practiced forgiveness in the town where she grew up. Their name was Parsons. On one occasion, Mr. Parsons watched young Josephine get swatted by the broom of a mean old lady in town who didn’t like the neighborhood children getting too close to her property. He stopped Josephine and told her, “Go back and tell Mrs. Brink that you forgive her for hitting you.” “Say, ‘I forgive you’ to Mrs. Brink?” Mr. Parsons smiled. “Forgiveness comes in many forms,” he said. “You don’t actually have to say, ‘I forgive you.’ A simple smile will do. You might just tell her that her daffodils are pretty.” It seemed dumb to young Josephine, but she trusted Mr. Parsons’ advice. She went back and mumbled something to Mrs. Brink about her daffodils being pretty. Mrs. Brink looked shocked, but it was the last time Josephine ever felt her broom. On another occasion Josephine and several of her third grade friends put a handful of pencil shavings into the Parsons girl’s sandwich, just to be mean and to make her mad. But she didn’t get mad. Instead, the next day, without any sign of repentance from her persecutors, the Parsons girl brought everyone in the class a large, beautiful, delicious, hand-decorated cookie which said, “Jesus loves you.” Years later Josephine Ligon still remembers that demonstration of forgiveness more than any sermon.

Forgiveness is more than words; it’s action! We may claim to have forgiven those who have hurt us, but if the relationship has not been restored, then forgiveness has not been fully realized. For forgiveness to be fulfilled the relationship must be reconciled. Granted, some people won’t accept our attempts at reconciliation, just as so many are rejecting God’s offer of forgiveness. But their response is not an excuse to stop acting in a loving way towards them. God has not stopped loving or pursuing the unrepentant person and neither should we. We are not excused from seeking to restore broken relationships because the other person rejects our attempts. If we think we are, then forgiveness is nothing more than pretend for us and is not truly motivated by the love of God in our hearts but rather a love for self. If that hurts, it should, and it’s good that it does. Selfishness always hurts the heart of a child of God because it contradicts His nature in us.

Imagine what would happen in your church and in your community if God’s people began forgiving others the way God forgave them. Imagine what would happen to the reputation of Christians if the restoration of relationships was our highest priority. We are called to be the ambassadors of reconciliation, showing people how they can be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) Maybe it’s time we modeled that reconciliation in our personal relationships so that the world can see the reality of God’s forgiveness.

Pastor John