“Be insulated, not isolated!”

I collect koozies. You know, the crafty little foam containers that you use to keep your canned drinks cold. These are popular give-away items at conferences and trade shows. A koozie is such a simple, yet profound concept. By putting a canned drink inside a koozie you can hold your ice-cold beverage and the warmth from your body will not affect the cold temperature of the can. Of course, no one wants to drink a warm canned drink. If you do, you might be a redneck!

I had another moment the other day when I was using my Bass Pro Shops koozie to keep my Diet Mountain Dew cold. Immediately, I grabbed my Bible and began reading John's Gospel account. Chapter 17 verse 15 says; “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” I thought to myself; “Ah, there is a reference to a koozie in Scripture!” In this passage, the Lord Jesus is encouraging the disciples to be in the world and not of the world. This particular verse is contained in a prayer that Jesus is praying for His disciples and for all future believers (including you and me). What does this mean? It means that we are to be insulated, not isolated.

God calls us to engage culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not commanded to isolate ourselves from the world and live on a mountain wrapped in animal skins eating locusts for the rest of our lives. Instead, God has commanded us to go into the world as agents of change, as salt and light, and purposed to dispel the darkness by shining the light of truth. God never calls us to retreat, but rather, He affirms the promise of His unfailing presence with us as we go (Matt. 28:20).

How are we insulated? We are to be clothed with the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-17). The armor of God belongs to God. In essence, when we clothe ourselves with the armor of God we are putting on His clothing; more specifically, we are putting on God Himself. The Apostle Paul is drawing on imagery from Isaiah 11:5, 52:7, and 57:19. This is a reference to Yahweh (the Messiah) as a warrior King fighting with His own armor to vindicate His people. Paul has already instructed us to be “imitators of God,” (Eph. 5:1) and now he is encouraging us to put on the character of God by donning ourselves with His armor. If we are to insulate ourselves and stand firm in this world, then God’s armor is paramount in accomplishing that. There is much to say about the armor that cannot be covered in this article, but let’s briefly touch on each piece.

1. We must gird our loins with truth. We are to securely fasten the belt of truth around us and prepare for action. The belt was important to a soldier in gathering the long tunic and tucking it into place. This allowed him to move freely. The belt properly worn kept the breastplate in place and allowed the sword to be fastened for quick, easy access.
2. We must put on the breastplate of righteousness. We are to allow God’s righteousness to protect our vitals. The breastplate covered a soldier from neck to thigh. It represents standing in Christ’s righteousness not our own.
3. We must put on the shoes of the Gospel of peace. These shoes would have nails that would press down into the ground giving the soldier a firm footing. As a believer, we have peace with God, giving us firm footing when engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
4. We must take up the shield of faith. This shield is dipped in the water of the Word of God, and therefore, extinguishes the flaming arrows of the evil one. Faith actively believes in the provision and protection of God. Our faith becomes a shield.
5. We must take up the helmet of salvation. We must be reminded of the hope of our salvation. This speaks of a present deliverance from sin. Today, tomorrow, and for all eternity we are saved from sin.
6. We must arm ourselves with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The authoritative Word of God is an offensive weapon. Unlike the belt, shield, helmet, and shoes, used for defensive purposes, the Word of God is often used for offensive purposes!

Allow me to carry the koozie analogy just a little further. The armor of God is like a koozie that provides insulation from the world. When properly donned, the temperature of the world will not affect us. We will not falter or sound retreat. We will not allow the world to squeeze us into its mold (Rom. 12:1-2). This truth applies to all Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our children must be insulated as they attend school and go out into the world. Adults must be insulated as they enter into the market place. Ministers must be insulated as they offer counsel and preach and teach the Word of God.

How do we clothe ourselves with the armor? We pray (Eph. 6:18).

We pray and ask God’s protection for our children. We pray that our children come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus as we model a life of following Him and living insulated lives. The answer is not isolation. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. Eventually, our children will be out in the world and will no longer be under the protection of a parent. In order to survive, they must be taught how to stay insulated in Christ. We see this illustrated in nature. A mother deer will teach her fawn how to hide and protect itself from predators such as bobcats and coyotes. The fawn learns this at a young age and is able to survive when it gets older. The fawn is not isolated from these dangers, but rather has been insulated and taught that these dangers exist, and how to stand firm and be protected.

We pray and ask God’s protection for those in the work/market place. Christians in the secular world have an enormous opportunity to be salt and light. When insulated, they have an opportunity to model morality, integrity, and sound ethical decision-making. However, when not insulated, he/she eventually becomes the same temperature as the world around them and their witness crumbles. It’s much easier to succumb to social pressures than to be an agent of change or salt and light. When we reach equilibrium and become the same temperature as those around us, we lose the ability to hear the voice of God. At this point, we begin to rationalize, reason, and justify our words and actions. We must be insulated!

We pray and ask God’s protection for ministers who counsel, preach, and teach the Word of God. A minister of the Gospel is a walking target for the evil one. It reminds me of playing Nintendo’s Duck Hunt years ago. You see these little ducks gliding across the screen and you get to blast them out of the sky! Ministers must be insulated as they counsel people, stand before the people of God, and proclaim to them the Word of God. Otherwise, they will get shot out of the sky! How many stories have we heard of ministers (i.e. pastors) engaged in moral failure? The numbers are staggering and it is damaging to the witness of Christ. They must be insulated!

The evil one wants nothing more than to destroy the Christian witness. He desires to destroy Christian homes by deceiving and distracting fathers from being spiritual leaders, mothers from tending the affairs of the home, and children from obeying their parents. He desires to deceive and distract the church from fulfilling the Great Commission and seeking to reach the lost and disciple the found. He desires to deceive and destroy the witness of men and women who profess to be sold-out committed followers of Jesus; only to discover moral failure because they neglected to put on a piece of armor. Don’t be numbered among the casualties.

We pray and ask God to clothe us with His truth, His righteousness, His peace, His faith, His salvation, His Spirit, and His Word. Then, we follow His lead into battle and we stand firm.

The answer is insulation, not isolation. God’s armor is our koozie. Put it on!

"Are we there yet?"

It was May of 1998 and I was on a plane heading for Eastern Europe. It was my first trip outside of the continental United States. I was so excited! I had joined a team of 6 others who were participating on a short term mission trip to Romania. The flight from Columbia, SC to Atlanta, GA was only about 56 minutes. The flight from Atlanta, GA to Zürich, Switzerland was around 10.5 hours. The remaining leg of the journey to Bucharest, Romania was about 3.5 hours. Calculating all of the layovers, the entire journey took us around 28 hours of travel time. I found myself constantly thinking; "Are we there yet??" This became even more intense when I got sick in Switzerland. I had never traveled like this before and certainly getting sick on a plane was not what I had in mind. It is miserable to get sick; even more miserable to be 6,000 miles from your personal toilet. Not only do you have to deal with the planes turbulence, but also blue toilet water and a space to move around equal to the size of a shoe box. I wanted to be home again. The excitement of the journey all of a sudden began to wane.

God reminded me of this experience as I was reading about the Red Sea parting for the Children of Israel in Exodus chapter 14. You may recall the story. The Children of Israel had been taken into Egyptian captivity. God had raised up Moses as the redeemer of the people to plea with Pharaoh to let the people go. Pharaoh refused and God sent plagues upon the land. Long story short, the Israelites were eventually set free. But, Pharaoh had a change of mind and decided to have them recaptured and brought back to Egypt as slaves. While in pursuit of the Israelites, the Egyptians cornered them at the Red Sea. It appeared that the Children of Israel had nowhere to go. But, God did what only God could do; He parted the waters. "The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left," (Ex. 14: 22).

How do these two stories relate? My dear friends, we are on a journey. While we may see the destination of Romania or the Promised Land, there is a journey that must be traveled. I could not blink and suddenly appear in Romania; the Children of Israel could not blink and suddenly appear in the Land of Canaan; and you cannot blink and suddenly arrive where God is taking you.

Often when I am planning to take a road trip I will enter the destination to my GPS. In an instant, it will calculate the route and even tell me the distance and estimated time of arrival. While I may be able to drive faster and reduce the estimated time of arrival, I cannot change the distance. Regardless of the speed I travel, I still have to travel the required distance. While God has various destinations for us in life, there is a required distance that must be traveled. With each mile that we travel, God is teaching us more about who He is and who we are in Christ.

My encouragement to you, regardless of where you are in life right now (graduating, seeking a career, serving in ministry, going back to school, getting married, raising a family...), don't overlook the journey for the destination. I would submit that by studying God's Word we see that the journey is just as important, if not more, than the destination. Why? Because it's in the journey that we experience God. It's in the journey that we come to know the goodness of His character. If the Children of Israel had not been on the journey they would not have experienced the awesomeness of God as He parted the waters! Just imagine seeing a wall of water on your right and on your left...

While the Children of Israel got irritated and even complained wanting to go back to Egypt; returning to that former way of life was not an option. God closed the waters making it impossible for them to return. Why? Because God never intended for them to return. Similarly, as God moves in your life and molds you into the image of Christ, He never intends for you to return to how you once lived. The journey is designed to sand off the rough edges of our life and pull up the weeds that are choking the good seeds. This process is not designed to be reversed. As you walk with God, never look back. While you remember God's activity in the past and cling to His faithfulness, may you also cling to the words of the Apostle Paul; "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus," (Phil. 3:13-14).

The next time life begins to weigh you down or you feel like turning back; don't do it. God is in the business of creating dry ground for His children to walk across. Remain faithful to God and He will do things in your life that you could never ask, think, or imagine. Living for Jesus is the greatest thing you could ever do. There is absolutely nothing else that will last for eternity. The question, "Are we there yet?" is a valid question, but the answer is NO. We strive toward the day when we will see the Savior face to face - then we can say, "YES, we are there!"

G.R.A.C.E.

In the summer of 2007, I was blessed to travel around the world. I began in Atlanta, Georgia, and then stopped in Hong Kong for two days. I then went to Bangalore, India for eight days. Upon leaving Bangalore, I flew to Frankfurt, Germany, and then back to Atlanta, Georgia. When working with a team of computer programmers in India, we finished work early one day. One of the guys on our team suggested taking me sight-seeing to a beautiful waterfall. Barra Chukki Falls was a 3-hour drive south of Mysore, India. Of course, a 3-hour drive in southern India is not like a 3-hour drive down Interstate I-95. I thought I was going to need a donut cushion and a back brace by the time we got back!

When we finally arrived, it was absolutely breath-taking. As I was standing there taking pictures and watching everyone trying to squeeze their way through the crowd to get a look from the observation deck, there were several thoughts that began to invade my mind.

A reading of the Gospel accounts reveals that Jesus often had crowds of people following Him. Many translations use the term multitudes. In fact, Luke 12:1 reads, “After so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another…” Matthew 4:25 reads, “Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.” Unfortunately, the argument can be made that many of those in the multitude followed Jesus out of curiosity of seeing another miracle, rather than being a sincere disciple. Nonetheless, there where multitudes who flocked to see Him.

Every now and then we read where an individual pushed their way through the crowd to get to Him; the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of His garment (Mark 5:28-34) and the leper who came bowing down before Him (Matt. 8) are just two examples. While standing there taking pictures and observing the multitude pushing their way through to get a glimpse of the falls from the picture spot, I thought to myself; “How many of those people would push their way through the crowd to get a glimpse of the Savior?” At that moment, I was terribly convicted. Had I been on the streets in Galilee, would I have been pushing my way through to get a glimpse of the Savior? Would I have been just part of the curious multitude?

I continued to ponder this thought as I put my camera away and headed back to the car. We made several other sight-seeing stops on our way back to Mysore, but the day was coming to a close. I got back to where I was staying and began to download the pictures to my laptop. As I was scrolling through the many pictures, I noticed one in particular. I had no idea I had snapped this picture. Look very closely at the picture at the top left of this article and see if you see anything unique. Once you’ve examined the photo, come back and read on.

I want you to notice the dead-looking tree in the middle of the picture. Did you see it? Look at the picture again. In the midst of the lush greenery, vibrant waterfall, and majestic display of God’s splendor, there stands one dead-looking tree. Please look again and take in the scene.

As I look at this picture, I am reminded of the amazing grace of God. While I am a filthy, rotten, sinner, I am also surrounded by the majesty and the splendor of Almighty God. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” What an amazing picture of grace! I’m aware of the acronym G.R.A.C.E.; God’s Riches At Christ’ Expense. However, the notion of being received by God is an even greater picture of God’s grace. Therefore, I have come up with another acronym for G.R.A.C.E.; God Receives At Christ’ Expense. God already owns everything, so it is understood that His riches are available to me. The overwhelming truth is that God receives me as His own adopted child. In spite of my fallen nature and rebellious heart toward Him, He receives me and welcomes me into His presence. This is possible because He came to earth wrapped in human flesh, lived a sinless and miraculous life, and died upon a dead-looking tree for my sins. The very tree that once stood as a symbol of my sin and death now stands as a symbol of my life in the Savior. What an amazing picture of grace!

While Jesus was nailed to the tree, there were multitudes who gathered around. Again, there were those who were curious. Perhaps, they were curious to see how He was going to get out of this one. Yet, there were those who were sincerely trying to get a glimpse of Him before He died. Had I been on the streets in Jerusalem, would I have been pushing my way through to get a glimpse of the Savior? Would I have been just part of the curious multitude gathered at Golgotha or would I have been a sincere disciple seeking to get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus?

Today, are you seeking a glimpse of the Savior? Do you see yourself as a dead-looking tree in the midst of the majesty and splendor of God? Ephesians 2:1-10 paints a vivid picture of the before and after. Before coming to know Christ, we are dead in our sins and even called children of wrath. Being a child of wrath means that if we die apart from faith in Christ we will stand subject to the wrath of God; you don’t want that to happen to you. The after scenario is the beautiful contrast. Verse 4 uses the greatest conjunction in all of Scripture; “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…” In Christ, we no longer live under the curse of the dead-looking tree. Christ has bore the tree as our substitute, and therefore, He has paid the penalty of our sins and satisfied the wrath of God. What an amazing picture of grace!

Grace is not something you earn; it’s a gift that you receive (Eph. 2:8-9). There is nothing that you and I could ever do to earn God’s love and forgiveness. If we could do something to earn it, then by definition it would not be grace. Grace is undeserved favor with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It knows that apart from Him we are nothing, and apart from Him we can do nothing. It recognizes that apart from the work of Christ on the cross, we would be hopeless forever. Look at the picture one more time. In one way it looks like two arms raised high in surrender; in another way it looks like a cross. Grace enables us to live surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Grace also acknowledges that Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father and bore the sins of humanity on the cross.

Have you been received by this amazing grace?