I remember growing very impatient waiting at the check-out. I had way more important things to do—like climbing a tree or wading in our creek. But with cooler nights, the shorts needed to be put away, and growing little girls needed the next size up of jeans.
Off to Sears, we went.
Does this jeans commercial from your childhood ring a bell?
“The tougher they come…the more you need Toughskins.”
Boy, were these double-kneed jeans strong. The company sold them with a guarantee that they would not give out before your child outgrew them. Parents, therefore, flocked for these jeans, ready to pass down to the next child.
Off I went, decked out in my trampoline-strong jeans, for the first day of school. I was as happy as a clam—until about sixth grade. Then I found out that to be “in” you needed to wear different jeans. I succumbed to the Jordache jeans craze like all of the other girls my age. Goodbye, Sears. Hello, Rodgers department store. My poor mom. I wouldn’t be caught dead in Toughskins anymore. And I let her know—loudly.
Why did mothers across America buy Toughskins as long as they could before middle school fashion sense kicked in?
Easy. Security.
The jeans were virtually indestructible.
When money was tight, these jeans guaranteed that parents could pass one pair of pants to subsequent kiddos. Two or three for the price of one. It guaranteed a good return on the money. It secured more groceries down the road. It made more room for other necessary things.
Needs are like that. When they are met, more room is made for other things in our life.
This past year I took a discipleship training class at Life Center in Grand Rapids. I learned the following life-changing list below, thanks to the wonderful teacher, Theresa Slabbekoorn. [I’ll include a link to the open class at the bottom of this link. It starts tomorrow (September 16, 2021) either “In-person” or “virtual.”]
All people have the following needs.
We all typically have two or three core needs that trigger us the most. Unknowingly, we try to milk them out of others.
My personal top two would be “Understood” and “Security.” Can you pick out yours?
A few weeks ago, as I was reading through Hebrews, a verse concerning security jumped out to me. I’d love to share it with you.
“And this is clearer still if another priest (Jesus) arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.” Hebrews 7:15-16
The entire story of Melchizedek is fascinating, but I’ll save that for another time. Instead, the word that caught my attention was a security word—indestructible—an “oh, so precious to my ears” word.
Allow me to introduce you to the meaning of “indestructible”: Strongs 179 “atakalutos.”
Do you experience the same big sigh of relief that something in your life is permanent and endless? That it can’t dissolve away like a bowl of cereal left out in the kitchen on a blistering summer day?
Physical looks fade away. Relationships fade away. So does money. Land. Prestige. Jobs.
Everything.
So, how in tarnation can we walk around secure at all? Is there anything in life that is permanent and lasting—indestructible? More than Toughskins jeans. Is there?
Before I answer the question with my thoughts, may I confess? Here we go.
Yes—I, too, bought my boys those ugly Toughskins jeans. Thankfully, the guarantee was still around for the oldest two. [Shhh…don’t tell them.) I do have to wonder now, though, where those jeans ranked on the scale with the "Mom Jeans" of today. Sigh. I have many pairs of those, too.
Want to know a kicker? For whatever reason, MY kiddos always wore through the knees BEFORE the jeans wore out. Indestructible? Nope. Hardly. Go figure! Guess they were strong—but not eternal.
That’s the point—nothing is indestructible—except Christ!
Jesus’ indestructible life exists for you and me. We have a guarantee far more significant than any other.
Guarantee = He will never, ever leave you.
He will meet our hunger for security. Sometimes our eyes will be on circumstances or people to meet our needs, but that’s only taking our eyes from the permanent one whose promise beats the old Sears security any old day.
You are safe! You are secure! Father said so!
So, rest easy today, friends. Your Savior won’t ever leave you. You can run to him with all that is inside, and you will never be swiped away like a dog attempting to lick the dishwasher dishes.
His life is now your life—and it won’t ever run out. Ever.
Doesn’t that make you sigh with relief? It surely does me!
And you know what else it does? It gives me room for other things today, like basking in the love of my Savior and passing it onto others. I can be daring and reach out to another, knowing my needs are already met in Christ.
I don’t need to milk it from people because I have all the security I need already.
And so do you.
Let’s live loved and secure today, my friends! Because we are.
Oh, glory!
.....
Aleisha Cate
@GraceunLEISHed
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***Here is the link to the class, Advanced Ministry Training. (The purple box.) Give them a call. You WILL be blessed to take it either this year or next. https://lifecentergr.org/learning/