Time to Move out of The Museum!

 

 

We’ve lived at our present address for 20 years. During that time we’ve managed to fill up the shop and load up the garage. Even the downstairs storage area is full. Danny decided Saturday it was time to clean out the shop and it was a chore! He called me out there once and asked me to look in a box he found. As I peered into the contents I found it was a box of my dad’s mementoes. There were a couple of AA coins, a 1949 quarter, a 1960 penny, several Father’s Day ornaments and a copy of our wedding announcement from the paper in 1973.  What a step back in time. Next Danny showed me a bag of clothes. Inside that bag were little dresses my mother had made our oldest daughter over 35 years ago. As I held one of them up, more memories flooded my heart. I could see our daughter in that dress!

I found that I no longer wanted to clean out the shop! Lots of the “junk” in there had special memories from some part of our lives.  From old dolls to old papers, it was amazing.

You can’t keep everything. If you do, you’ll end up with a mess on your hands. Although lots of these things were treasures, they are old, broken, tattered and useless. Do I want to hold onto them? Yes. Do I need to? No. While the special things reminded us of precious memories, we cannot live in our memories. If we were to be gone, most of the stuff would be quickly discarded because no one else has our memories. We agreed to keep the most important things and were very selective, but the rest just has to go.  We’ll have no room for new things, space to work or even a garage for the car if we don’t clean out.

Precious memories are wonderful and mementoes of happy times can be great to look at. But we cannot live in the past.  We need to move on and make new memories. We want room for our lives to be productive and precious, but we can’t if we keep looking at the past and living there. While we cherish many things about our history, if we only live in the past it’s like living in a museum. Great to look at but untouchable.

Are you wishing for the former days? Do you wish you could go back and live in happier times? Are you content to live in the past? Are you longing for the mementoes of your older days to be your present times? God loves your wonderful memories but He’s ready to move you on to a new day. He’s ready for you to clean out your heart and mind for new experiences and to help you be able to live in the present.

Oh beloved, God has wonderful plans for your life! Even now, when you may be hurting over lost treasures or not wanting to let go. He doesn’t ask you to forget your past, but He’s asking you to move on. To move on with Him is to find more treasures, the kind that moths and dust don’t ruin.  If you will trust God, He will take you by the hand and go with you into new things. For He always has fresh anointing for the new things He wants to do in your life! Keep the old memories, for they are silver to your life. But let God take you on to blessings and ministry, so that your life will remain useful and pliant and so that others will benefit from your walk with the Lord.

God loves you so much that He woos you out of the past and into the future. And He cares about you so much that He’s not willing for you to remain in the cobwebs and junk of past days. What a blessing it is to know He wants to take you out of the museum and into the new life He wants to build just for you!

2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Isaiah 43:19  For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Mathew 6:19-20 Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

When Our Fears Meet King Fearless Everything Changes

 

The Wizard of Oz had some very interesting characters. My favorite was the lion. He was a very unusual lion in that he lacked courage. I’ve had dreams over the years about lions. In every dream they were ferocious and fearless. I’ve watched lots of shows about lions and never once have I seen a lion backing down from about anything. Movies depict them as a intrepid foe and a crafty stalker.

But here we have a cowardly lion. He jumps at his own shadow. He hates to face obstacles. He is reticent and reclusive. He needs lots of help from friends and lots of encouragement as well. When faced with a problem he starts whining instead of roaring! You have to feel so sorry for the creature.  His kind is considered “king of the jungle” and yet this lion felt like anything but a king!

In his desire to be more than he is, to get rid of his cowardice, he follows along with a group to the Land of Oz. He’s not sure, but he’s hoping that what he’s heard about this magnificent place will help him.  All along the way the lion and the other characters meet up with obstacles, terrors, dangers and enemies.   He is so full of his own fears that he doesn’t even realize that he is overcoming obstacles and facing uncertainties all along the way.

I understand the lion.  He’s supposed to be one thing, but he keeps seeing himself as much less than he is. He’s afraid and unsure of himself. Even though the nature books tell all about lions and their courage and fierceness, he has neither.  Maybe you can relate.  Are you lacking courage? Are you having a hard time facing things that come into your life? Maybe it’s rejection, unforgiveness,  unresolved relationships or the uncertainties of life itself. Our world is full of dangers and dread. As the movie line goes, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Oh beloved, it’s time to run to the reassurance of the King of Kings! Everything we lack – absolutely everything – He is! Everything we fear – He conquers! Everything we’re weak in – He’s Courageous!  Maybe you don’t know it yet, but you are an overcomer, you are victorious, and everything, every single thing you need for life and godliness is found in Him! If you will let yourself trust Him, He will take you beyond your own mortal weaknesses and set you apart for Himself! He will make your way secure, your sight full of faith and your life full of His glory. For He loves you and He’s able to save you not only from the penalty of sin, but from yourself! The God of the Universe is Fearless and Able to make all grace abound to you – so that in all things you will have the courage and fortitude of a child of the Most High God. Look back and see – you have come a long way and He has taken every step with you! Look forward and see – He will go ahead of you to get you where you need to be. Look up, for He is your Redemption and Your Place of Safety. He loves you, oh beloved, and He’s for you, His child, and that is all that really matters!

I Peter 5:7 Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. (AMP)

Deuteronomy 31:6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

1 John 4:18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.