Linus Minus His Blanket
(Romans 8:37)
A little word association exercise for today. What’s the first word that
comes to your mind when I say this name - Linus? Let me guess – blanket. Of
course. Unless somehow in your life you’ve missed cartoondom’s classic,
“Peanuts” and the world of Charlie Brown and friends. And Linus is the
little philosopher of the group, known most of all for his ever-present
security blanket. And I mean ever-present. Everywhere this boy goes, he’s
dragging his precious blanket. Trying to separate him from his blanket is a
hopeless cause. It’s like, “Who am I without it?”
Maybe we shouldn’t be so amused by Linus and the security blanket he can’t
do without. Because most of us – maybe all of us – have a blanket of our
own. Not literally, of course. But we’re all pretty attached to something
or someone that we really, really need . . . that defines, to a significant
extent, who we are. Unfortunately, there comes a time in all our lives when
we can’t hang onto that blanket anymore. Sometimes, it’s literally stripped
from our hands.
For some of us – often us men – our job, our career, our title is an
important security blanket. We don’t realize how much of who we are is what
we do until one day it’s taken from us. Your strength or your health may be
your security blanket – you may work pretty hard at keeping it. But it can
be lost all to suddenly. Maybe it’s your looks . . .your wealth . . . your
ability . . . your family . . . a person who is a big part of who you are.
A security blanket can be something very good – but loseable. And when
things beyond your control tear your blanket from your hands, you’re left
wondering – as you may be right now – who am I without it?
I guess the great myth is that anything or anyone we can lose can ever give
us ultimate security. There is always this gnawing fear that it won’t be
there someday. We’re created for a security that always will be there –
even when every other security blanket is gone.
That rock-solid security is defined for us in our word for today from the
Word of God in Romans 8:37ff. After talking about some of life’s greatest
tragedies, it says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through
Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers… nor
anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There it is – unloseable love. Security beyond the reach of every disease,
downsizing, divorce, depression, or disaster. When Jesus Christ died on the
cross so the sin-wall between you and God could come down forever, He made it
possible for you to know you belong to God, to never live a moment here or in
eternity without being loved by Him. Without knowing it, you’ve been looking
for this love all your life.
If you’ve lost a security you were depending on, it may be so you could
finally realize how much you need Jesus – how much you’ve always needed Him.
And this could be your day, your moment to finally put your total trust in
Him to be your Rescuer from your sin . . . to remove the wall between you and
the unloseable love of God.
He’s reaching for you right where you are – are you going to grab His hand?
If you want to finally experience this anchor relationship with Jesus Christ,
tell Him that right now. And I’d love to send you the booklet I wrote about
this relationship called Yours For Life. Just let me know you want it.
Ultimate security is knowing you belong to Jesus Christ. And what you’ve
lost may be what finally leads you to find Jesus – the One you can never lose.
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc. Permission to reproduce this
material is automatically granted on the condition it will be used for
non-commercial purposes, will not be sold, and will be distributed for
the sole purpose of expanding the Gospel.
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