My Favorite Accessory

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”  Ephesians 1:13-14

Do you have a favorite accessory?  Mine is definitely my purse.  I don’t go anywhere without it.  It carries my phone, my debit card, my sunglasses, my lip gloss, my hairbrush, my Advil, my checkbook, and today it carries my computer and my Bible as I am traveling to Nicaragua with Compassion International on a mission trip.  You may be surprised to hear, however, that I don’t have many purses.  When I decide to carry one, I carry it for about a year at a time. Therefore, I choose very wisely! It must have a certain amount of pockets, be large enough to carry my computer and Bible when I need it to and, and this is the most important feature, be fashionable!  I must love the way it looks, or I won’t want to carry it around every single day for an entire year.  I bond with my purse, and before I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Dooney & Burke Robertson Women line of purses, my purses usually didn’t last after a year anyway, and I would end up throwing it out.  It would be frayed, ripped, broken zippers, holes in the pockets and usually end up having a certain type of odor as there would have been melted M&M’s and spilled drinks in the bottom of it on more than one occasion.  I am definitely rough on my purses.  And so are my children! How many times a day does your child hand you something they don’t want to carry and where does it end up going?  Yep, right into your purse.

One of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies is in One Fine Day with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer when they unexpectedly have to drop their children off at a childcare center for a few hours and it happens to be costume day.  Michelle Pfeiffer’s character starts to dig in her purse to put together make-shift costumes for the two children.  By the time she is done, both kids look amazing in super hero costumes.  George Clooney looks at her and says, “Um, where do I get one of those bags?”  

Men and children always check Mom’s purse first for what they need when we’re not at home, right?  

Shouldn’t that be the same with the Holy Spirit?  Shouldn’t we check with Him on what we need to take with us today?  

Ok, let’s see.  I need love, joy, peace, patience:  CHECK

Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: CHECK

If we would take a few seconds before we rush out the door every morning and make sure we have “everything we need for life and godliness.”  2 Peter 1:3 (NIV)  

In the title scripture, Paul tells the Ephesians that, if they (we) believe, we are marked with a seal of redemption.  Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!

Galatians 5:16-18 says, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.”

If we let the Spirit lead us, we are less likely to do what our sinful nature wants us to do.  We are less likely to hurt others with our words, less likely to spend too much money on frivolous possessions, less likely to choose our own time over serving others.  But make no mistake: if we leave the Spirit on the shelf at home and refuse to listen to Him, we do ourselves and our families a great disservice.  We may think pleasing ourselves right now is the most important thing and that we have plenty of time to get it right later.  Don’t take that bait.  Take the Spirit instead. Then someone might say to you, "Um, where do I get that Spirit?"

Have a bountiful week!