Donna and I used to get in arguments about our ol’ Dyson.  Walk in the front door, greeted by Dyson in the hall.  Next day, turn the hall into the den and stub your toe on Dyson.  “Babe, can we please put this vacuum cleaner in the closet when it’s not being used?  It’s kind of embarrassing to always have this thing out everywhere when people come over.”  Her response was that we were likely going to need it sometime soon, so might as well keep it out.  She wasn’t OCD, but just being realistic, “8 people in this house cause a lot of a mess.”  Sigh…I learned to submit on that one. We were connected to that vacuum cleaner.  Furthermore, if there was ever a problem with it, there was immediate action taken to get it fixed!  It was, and I guess still is, a mission-critical appliance for us.

What is something to which you are so connected, that you always want it around you?  Or if it were broken, you would take immediate action to get it fixed?  Maybe your cell phone? Now, realize that 1 John 5:6-12 speaks of our having eternal life in Christ alone.  By being connected to Christ, we have LIFE.  If our relationship with Christ is struggling or broken by sin, do we do everything we can to get the connection fixed? Don’t worry, as this is not saying that we can lose our salvation, but that the relationship can surely have problems.

If we had a vast amount of $$$ at our disposal, would we simply leave it in a closet and never ever think about it?  Were we to do that, it would give us no benefit.  Likewise, if we just take our abundant, eternal life in Christ and only view it as something we’ll get when we die, we’re missing out, practically leaving it in the closet.  Life in Christ is now, and we must live in that reality, embracing the benefits.  When something becomes broken and hinders that experience of fullness of life, let us do everything to fix it.  As Jonathan Edwards had so many resolutions upon which he often reflected, let us also realize, reflect, and rejoice upon the blessed, abundant life that we have now in Christ.

Rev. Darol Timberlake