Supervisor of Quality Control

My dad was the supervisor of quality control for the south east coast of a major weaving company. It was a pretty big deal job. He didn’t own the company. But his job was to make sure all the factories in the south east manufactured a product that met the exact specifications of the company’s high standards. The product, although he didn’t own it, was a reflection of his management. I forget this management concept sometimes because:

Every time “belongs to me” season comes around I catch it. What I think I own spreads through my system before I can stop it. I cough and sputter. I cry and complain. I seem to think it all belongs to me. Other people take up my time. Other drivers don’t stay out of my lane. It’s my job, my car, my house, my responsibility, my duty, my ministry, my money. The  I, me, my, mine disease, yeah, I really catch it.

I get so caught up in what I think belongs to me that I forget it doesn’t. Not really. It was never mine to start with. I’m just the supervisor of quality control of everything God has put in my care. I don’t even own it. I just take care of it. It would be like the yard guy thinking all the grass he mows is his. It would be like the mechanic guy thinking all the cars he works on are his. It would be like the bug guy thinking all the de-bugged houses are his. They are caretakers not owners. Their job is to take care of what some else owns. Their job is to make sure they meet the exact specifications of the owner. And that’s my job too, until I catch a big bad case of the “belongs to me.”

Things to Remember

1.     God is the owner: I Chronicles 29:11 Yours (not mine), O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours (not mine.) Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lords (not mine,) and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.

2.     I am His manager: I Corinthians 6:19-20 You are not your own (I’m not the owner) you were bought with a price (I work for God.) Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus (not for me.) Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ for good works (I'm supposed to manage well), which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I need to keep this in mind when I start thinking “I, me, my, mine.”

I am just the supervisor of quality control (not the owner) 

of all God has put in my care.

But that’s a pretty big deal job.

All of Me

It has always bothered me that some books or articles are called “All About …..(fill in.)” I’m perturbed because these books are really not everything about their subject. But I’m going to try to dive into “all about giving all of you to Jesus” anyway. Please forgive me if it is not comprehensive enough. I found this “all of me” in Psalm 103:1. This one verse has had a life-changing influence on my life this week and it has revolutionized all of me. So, here goes.

Psalm 103: 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Break it down:

1.       Bless – I bow my heart and adore You with thankfulness.

2.       The Lord – You are the only God and creator of the world and my existence.

3.       O my soul – With all my body, emotions, thoughts, and passions,

4.       And all that is within me – and with every part of me, all the time, everywhere with all my heart

5.       Bless –I bow and adore You with thankfulness

6.       His holy name – making Your name known and famous as my awesome honored God.

This was a prayer of David. No wonder he was known as a man going after the very heart of God. He dedicated all of himself to God in this prayer. He went full force and all out running to God. I, too, want to be known as a person who is actively pursuing God daily. I want to give all of me to Jesus. So this is going to be my daily prayer:

My Holy Father God,

 I bow my heart and adore You with thankfulness.

 You are the only true God and creator of the world and my existence.

With all my body, emotions, thoughts, and passions, and with every part of me, all day, everywhere, with all my heart, I bow and adore You with thankfulness.

I honor You and want to make Your name known and famous as my awesome God.

I can only mean this and do this through the power of You, Holy Spirit, so please help me today.

In the Name of my only Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray this to You.

Amen, Amen

Who is it all about in your life? Will you be a woman wanting to go after God’s very heart?

 Will you join me in this prayer?

All of you to Jesus

All of me

Set Your Mind

The leader of spin class said, “If you have any negative thoughts today, I want you to release them now.”

My first thought was, “It’s 8 o’clock in the morning and I’ve only been up for two hours but I do have negative thoughts already.”

My second thought was, “Wow, negative thoughts and feelings kind of creep up on a person.

My third thought was, “I need to be in the habit of releasing those negative thoughts constantly but how? If they creep up, how do I stop them?  It would be good to have a plan in place for this. I’m sure the Bible has directives for this. In fact, I can already think of some ‘set you mind’ verses in the Bible. This would even be a great blog journal entry. I could start writing it in my head now.”

My fourth thought was, “I’d better study this after class because I just missed the exercise instructions.”

So, after class, I set my mind on how to set my mind.

Colossians 3:1-3 has an if/then command:

 If you have been raised up from sin and death like Christ.  And if you believe in His resurrection. And if you understand that He is at the right hand of God in Heaven. Then have the understanding that you are to set your mind on heavenly things and not on earthly things.

   

OK, got it. I don’t let earthly cares and negativity supersede heavenly thoughts and directives. To do this, I need to consistently set my mind and be in control of my thoughts. But how do I put it into action? This consistently and constantly aspect is hard to maintain. Oh, but isn’t that why Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God? Doesn’t He maintain our salvation? Doesn’t He maintain our life in Him? Can’t He maintain our spiritual growth? And doesn’t that include being more like Him and thinking more like Him? Well, of course He can and of course He does.

 The main thing I need to do (as the spin instructor said) is to release the thoughts - to Jesus. I need to empty or pour them out to Him. Now what do I replace in the empty space?

Paul said in Philippians 4:8-9 “Now brothers and sisters in Christ think on these things:”

1.     all the things that are true

2.     all the things that  inspire you to be more like Christ

3.     all the things that are absolutely correct

4.     all the things that are worshipful

5.     all the things worth loving

6.     all the things that will cause you to be kind

7.     all the things that will cause you to act graciously

8.     all the things that will cause you to praise and thank God

Now that should be enough options to fill my mind and override the other junk that shouldn’t be there.                            

Get ready. Get set in your mind. Go!

Not Perfect but Useful

In my Bible study were the questions, “Where were you the last time God spoke to you? What did He say?” The questions came with a message about finding a worship place where God can speak to you. I think I have one of those odd relationships with God because I was in Home Depot looking at bathroom fixtures when God spoke to me. Seriously!

I’m remodeling my bathroom and went in search of the perfect bathroom mirrors. I’d find one I like and there would only be one. I need two. I’d find two but didn’t really like them. You know how it goes. All over town I went; looking, looking, and more looking.

I finally ended up at Home Depot. I should have started there. But maybe God had to get me just frustrated enough to listen to Him. It was there I felt God saying, “They don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be useful. You know, kind of like you.”

I’m not perfect. I sin. Shhhhh, don’t tell. Although I think if you know me you know that this is no big secret. I’m just forgiven by Jesus. He wants me to be useful. He’ll take me not perfect.  He just wants me handy to do His will.

With this in mind, I found the mirrors right away. They are a good size and will fit in the space. I wasn’t looking for size before. They are easy to hang. I wasn’t looking for that feature before either. They reflect an image. I know all mirrors are supposed to do that but maybe you can see where I’m going. When I stopped striving for perfection and looked for usefulness I found what I was looking for. And, I must admit, they are perfect.

So often I strive to be perfect before God. I work so much on what I’m trying to be that I’m not any use. I’m concentrating on myself instead of what God want me to do. Now I realize that when I quit trying to be perfect and just try to be useful I’m perfectly ready for God’s use. And to be used by God what, when, how, and where He wants will be quite perfect.

Paul reminded Timothy of this. God spoke to him through household items too. He said in II Timothy 2:20-21:

                In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are only used for special occasions (perfect but not useful), and the cheap ones are for everyday use (not perfect but very useful) . But if a child of God presents himself as forgiven, he will be a perfect utensil, useful to The Master God for any work He wants. (perfect and useful). (*As always the in quotations are my comments.)

 OK, I had my worship time in Home Depot. That’s where God showed me that being ready to be used by God for His will is better than working up perfection and never quite making it to be used.

Not perfect but useful

He’ll make me perfect for His use. 

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

I've been feeling a little patriotic lately. And, yes, it is because of our national holiday. But it has gone a little deeper this year. My electricity provider's CEO challenged its providees to read the Declaration of Independence in this month’s magazine. I haven’t read it in a while. OK, I haven’t read it since elementary school when I was required to memorize part of it. So, feeling somewhat guilty, I did.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident (obvious, indisputable, and undeniable), that all men are created equal (we forget that part sometimes), that they are endowed (gifted or bestowed) by their Creator (God is implied) with certain unalienable (the state of possessions that cannot be bought or sold) rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness (capitalized in the document).” (*These are my notations. I had to look some of this up.)

 Wow, our Founding Fathers were really making a statement here. Our Creator God has given us Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. They understood this statement as non-negotiable. They took for granted that the readers would agree all across the land, unless you were siding with England’s king at the time.

I can relate as a Christ follower:

I have Life – He who has the Son has life. I John 5:12

I have Liberty – You have been called to live in liberty. But do not use your liberty to indulge in sin but use it to serve each other in love. Galatians 5:13

I can pursue happiness – The fruit coming to you from the Holy Spirit is love, happiness, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.  Galatians 5:22-23

Yes, for this holiday I’m loving the United States of America and the republic for which it stands. My nation is under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Let me not take these unalienable rights from my Creator for granted. This holiday I will be thankful for:

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.