A Sure Thing

Have you ever listened to a sales pitch and thought, “This has to be a scam!” When we find ourselves in these situations, it’s common to cut the person off, explain as quickly and politely as possible that we aren’t interested, and go about our day. Unfortunately, the skill of recognizing these situations often comes with age and wisdom.

I remember when I was 18, Lacey and I went to the mall in Fairview Heights. In the center of the mall was a group doing a presentation on these animals called sugar gliders. This presentation could more accurately be described as a performance. The salesman was doing all kinds of tricks with these small, seemingly sweet and cuddly creatures. They would jump off a bar and glide onto his shoulder or burrow into his pocket on command. These things were awesome and we had cash in hand! Long story short, after blowing an undisclosed amount of money, we had the most feral, nocturnal, smelly marsupial in all of North America! It would bite, scratch, and let out the most terrifying noise if you opened its pouch. My advice to my 18 year old self would be to save your money and stick with dogs!

With stories like these, there’s no wonder that our society is conditioned to believe in phrases like, “There’s no such thing as a sure thing!” or “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!” Scams are out there and discernment is needed, but as Christians, we are guaranteed at least one SURE THING in life!

1 Peter 1:3 – 4 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you!

A familiar hymn put it this way….

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

When we accept Jesus, it’s a package deal! We gain access to the Father, the Spirit, and an eternal inheritance waiting in heaven. Finally, a deal that is too good NOT to be true!

For more assurance, read all of 1 Peter Chapter 1.

Aluminum Foil & God's Promises

Have you ever had trouble getting aluminum foil to tear properly while simultaneously keeping it in the box? Aluminum foil and I have been at it for years. Seems like every time I start rolling the foil out it would suddenly want to take a field trip to the kitchen floor. The stuff always gave me problems…..until recently.

I learned something new about aluminum foil that I had never known. At both ends of aluminum foil boxes are tabs. These tabs are put there by the manufacturer with a purpose. If one simply pushes the tabs in, the aluminum foil will stay nicely in the box when you open the lid and tear a piece of foil off. This was a game changer for me. No more chasing aluminum across the kitchen floor. Then I started kicking myself in the butt about it. All those years of frustration could have been avoided. My solution was right there in front of me the whole time. I had possession of what I needed but never took advantage of it.

God constantly challenges people to take hold of the things He has promised. Take a look at these verses from the Bible.

“2 Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. 3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.”
-Joshua 1:2-3, NASB

God is giving directions to His people. Moses is gone and the new leader Joshua is about to take the people into the Promise Land. What’s interesting about this passage is the fact that God says, “I have given it to you.” They haven’t entered the Promise Land yet but its already theirs. God gave it to them. They simply had to claim it. They had to take hold of it. They had to step out in faith, cross the Jordan River, and follow through.

Now that’s peculiar. You can have something that belongs to you, and still need to take possession of it to enjoy it. Do you know what belongs to you? There are promises in life that God has given you, but in order to reap their benefits you must take hold of them. Many times, like the aluminum foil tabs, they are in front of our faces all the time and we do not even realize it. God, like a wise manufacturer, made these promises available to us. Life would be a lot less frustrating if we understood what God has placed at our fingertips and we made the most of it. Consider what might happen in your life if you realized all that God has promised and you put it into practice? Take hold of God’s promises. They belong to you. They are within your reach.

Lord Prepare Me

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says,
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.”

            Since Jesus died and the veil in the temple was torn, there is no longer a separation between God and His people. We now have access to God through His son, and His presence, which was once confined, now comes to dwell in us, making you and me a temple of God.

            This is a privilege and an advantage that the people of the Old Testament did not receive. However, it also comes with some responsibility. Luke 12:48 reminds us, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required…”

So what does it mean to be a dwelling place for God?

The song, Sanctuary puts this beautifully. It is a simple chorus, that expresses a very complex prayer.

Lord, prepare me
To be a sanctuary.
Pure and holy
Tried and true
With thanksgiving,
I’ll be a living
Sanctuary for you.

To be a temple for God, you must be…

#1. Pure and Holy

Leviticus 11:44 says, “…be holy, because I am holy.”

            First, we must recognize that the standards we strive to live up to are only possible with God’s help. Nobody meets the criteria except through Jesus, and the power they receive through the Holy Spirit.

            That being said, one definition of pure is “free from any contamination.” Purification is often a difficult process involving heating to extreme temperatures or running through several chemicals and filters. Removing contaminants in your own life can also require extreme measures and sometimes be painful.

As the song says, “Lord, prepare me.”

#2. You Must be Tried and True

            Becoming a Christian is not just one decision or one prayer. It’s something you have to decide every day in every circumstance. To be “tried and true” means you stick it out even when it hurts. Turning your back in the tough times would be like kicking God out of His own temple.

James 1:2-3 says, “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

If you are able to do that, you will develop an attitude of thanksgiving that the song talks about. The process may be difficult, but the result will be worth it!

Lord, prepare me!

Who You Say I Am!

Who am I that the highest king would welcome me?

            We’ve all been there. Everybody in life has come to what seems like a breaking point. Maybe nothing is going your way and you feel like you are spinning your tires. Maybe you’ve just messed up in a big way and you feel like you’ve really blown it this time.

            In these situations, it can be really tempting to tear ourselves down. I’ve heard it said, “If we treated others the way we treat ourselves, it would be considered a crime.” And how true that often is! We say things to ourselves that we would never in a million years consider saying to somebody else because we understand the kind of pain it would cause. Yet, we speak this negativity into our own lives over and over.

            Next time you are in a place like this, I want you to ask yourself one question: “Who does God say I am?”

            When you begin seeking the answer to this question, it’s like wiping the dust off of an old mirror. And only when you begin to see yourself clearly, do you feel empowered to change the situations that caused the identity crisis in the first place.

To help you start the process of dusting off that mirror, I’ve come up with just a couple of the wonderful things God says about you!

1. When you feel like you can’t do anything right, God says…

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
-1 John 1:9

AND

“The righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”
-Proverbs 24:16

2. When you think you’ll never amount to anything, God says…

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
-1 Peter 2:9

AND

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”
-Romans 8:28

The song I quoted at the beginning starts with the question, “Who am I?”

The answer?

I am Chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am.
You are for me
Not against me
I am who you say I am.