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.

Chasing Sardines

Some years ago a headline told of three hundred whales that suddenly died. The whales were pursuing sardines and found themselves marooned in a bay. Frederick Harris commented, “The small fish lured the sea giants to their death. They came to their violent demise by chasing small ends, by prostituting vast powers for insignificant goals.”

The tragedy that befell these whales ought to be a lesson to all of us on the power of priorities. Priorities are the things that we deem valuable or important and they have a profound impact on our lives. For better or for worse, your priorities will guide your direction in life. Consider the whales that met their untimely death just because they were chasing sardines. They exerted such great strength in order to chase something so little and in the end it led to their own demise. I wonder how many people have thrown away their life, so to speak, just chasing a lunch like these whales? Are we just chasing sardines?

It’s not always easily apparent what we should prioritize. Dwight Eisenhower hit the nail on the head when he said, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” Are we just hitting all the deadlines while we miss what’s truly important? Are our priorities out of whack?

If you are unsure of what your priorities are, just take a moment to consider the things you give your time, money, and energy to. Those are the things you are prioritizing. You can’t do everything; you have to pick and choose. There’s nothing wrong with that. You prioritize when you decide what things are worth giving your time, money, and energy to.

Whether you realize it or not, we all have priorities. Some have thought these things through, and others walk haphazardly through life, but we all are declaring what’s most important each day by our choices. The real question is not just, “Do I have priorities?”, rather the question is “Will I prioritize the right things?” Thankfully the Bible helps us know how to rightly prioritize our life. Here’s a few helpful examples.

PRIORITIZING YOUR THOUGHT LIFE

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
-Philippians 4:8, NIV

PRIORITIZING YOUR EFFORTS

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
-1 Timothy 4:8, NIV

PRIORITIZING YOUR FINANCES/RESOURCES

24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
-Proverbs 11:24-25, NIV

PRIORITIZING WHEN FEELING WORRIED/PRESSURED

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
-Matthew 6:33, NIV

THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITIES

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
-Matthew 22:36-40, NIV