Maintaining Proper Insulation

When I was a young boy, I recall my maternal grandfather in his country twang voice tell me, “nothing good ever happens after midnight in the streets”. That stuck with me growing up as I rarely hung out anywhere too late. I sort of understood I guess, the insulation of being at home, school, church or the gym as safety. I knew being outside of that bubble decreased my protection from the tempting elements of the rough and tough environment of my youth. I’m sure most can relate in the practical sense to that cold draft in your home during the cold winter months. You realize there is an insulation issue and without proper insulation your home will not be able to fend off the outside elements. This is a great parallel to our spiritual walk with Christ and the theme for our new series “Maintaining Proper Insulation”.

Now, the question may be what does insulation look like from a biblical perspective, well it would be God’s covering. Which is His watchful protection over your very existence. We find this in our primary study text for this week Psalm 121:1-8. Here we find the Psalmist noting that his help, guidance, protection, preservation and eternal life come from God. This is a significant thought process but one that we all should adopt. Without adopting this mental approach, we can very easily place ourselves in situations, some obvious and others subtle outside the insulation or safety of God. For me this insulation is a daily pursuit to be worked at, thus never being comfortable to think I’m above being without it. The moment you think that, is the very opening Satan is looking for to attack. When you take time to study King David, he at times thought he was above the insulation of God and what a roller coaster his life’s journey was. When you have outside elements coming for you and inside elements lacking. It can be tough to stay focused on what is most important. Every day we awake is not always pleasant. If someone tells you it is, I would highly question their grip on reality.

It’s a fact that work may not be going right, things with the spouse may be off, the children may be a challenge and friendships can by trying. The truth is there are moments when we Christian folk leave a window or two cracked ‘so to speak’ and the elements creep in. Then for those of you who have not come to salvation in Christ, you are living in an abandoned completely uninsulated building. Therefore, it is vital to seek the one who is right, the one who knows how to combat any element or circumstance you may encounter. The one who knows how to repair and properly insulate any broken home. This is what the Psalmist was fully understanding even in the midst of peril, fear and self-doubt. That if I seek to fill these drafts of cold air, if I seek to defeat the trappings of self and this world. Then it can only come through an internal, eternal relationship with God!

If you recall from our previous series, we who have believed and accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior are the Tabernacle the place where Christ dwells. This free gift of salvation is our insulation from the destruction of our sinful nature. God provides this much needed protection and equips us by His power and might to armor ourselves in defense of the home in which He lives. In Part 2 of this series, we will look at how Paul goes into detail regarding this armor in his letter to the saints (believers) at Ephesus, better known as the book of Ephesians. In the meantime, take some time this week to look around your house and see where any drafts may be coming in and work with Jesus on insulating those areas.