The Wrong Inventories Obtained

The Wrong Inventories Obtained

3/22/16

With all of the choices that have been made available to us it is easy for us to obtain items that we want instead of those that we need.  It does not matter what industry a person is associated with this situation will present itself at some point in time.  This application is also apparent in our spiritual lives as well and while we accept the abundance that surrounds us we often fail to obtain the necessary information that we need to survive and thrive in this ugly world.  We have a tendency of hoarding worldly goods instead of the true living water from God’s Word and it is high time that we figure this situation out because times are a changing.

Most of you know that I work in a hospital laboratory and have done so for a little over thirty years now.  I thoroughly love my work and I have greatly enjoyed watching this specialty field advance with the times with all of the new equipment and techniques that have been provided.  One of the more user-friendly techniques lies within the Chemistry Department and the analyzers that use dry slide technique which eliminates all potential spills of chemicals.  This technology is more accurate than previously available and it provides the physician and the patient with quicker answers to their troubles as a result.  There are some quirks of this technology still around but far less than the variables that we technologists had to put up with way back when.

The slides that are used on my instrument are either stored in the refrigerator or in the freezer and those temperatures must be kept within a certain range in order to properly report out accurate patient results.  Only a certain amount of reagent packs can be taken out at a time because of the amount of slides in those packages and the time in which is required to use those slides is pretty limited.  It is at this time that I go over to the main hospital and obtain a few packs of reagents that I need, warm them up and then place them on the instrument for usage.  However, with the business of the day, my supplies sometimes run low enough that I require more than a few packs and I end up carrying an entire armload across to my work area.

The other day I was performing this overloading and replenishing task and after all was said and done I had to carry over six boxes of reagent slides to my place of work.  These boxes are not large at all and they do not weigh very either so the process of transporting them is really no big deal, but it was not until I got over to my place that I realized that I had not brought over the one main slide box that I needed the most.  What was ridiculous was that I had to go into the freezer to get another frozen pack that was right next to the pack that I needed the most.  So, I had to immediately return to the main lab, go back into the freezer and then obtain the reagent pack that I needed.  I felt so stupid, especially since I had already been in the exact same spot a few minutes before and did not pick up what I needed.  On my way back over to the lab it was then that God dropped the topic of this article into my heart and this situation pertains to our daily lives, especially in our spiritual conditions, both individually and within the Church; which, both are equal in resemblance.

It is not difficult for one to look around and to see the abundance of materials and things that most of us would want to have in order to properly function in this society.  On a business level, the manufacturing goods and availabilities to the consumer seem quite endless and thus easily grabbed up when the need arises.  It has been deemed necessary to stock up on items that we will eventually need, and the established inventories in this state become just as important as the product produced by the company. As individuals, it is also important to keep a few extra items on hand for the preverbal “rainy day”.  But even though an inventory is essential it is also important to remember to get the items that you really need and not ones that will become useless or out of date before the time comes to use them. 

If we do not keep in stock the necessary items for our business’s survival then we can promote all we want but when times become tough or when a suitable buyer presents themselves the business will not stand.  It is vital to keep the business inventory in order and to have available a reserve in case of a downturn.  But with all of the options present it can sometimes be difficult to maintain the order that is necessary to stay within this necessity state.  Our spiritual lives also fall into this category for identical reasons and it is important that we understand exactly what is going on around our spiritual lives as well.  How many times have we had the opportunity to witness to those who do not know Jesus as their savior but did not have the correct inventory in our hearts to effectively spread His Word into their lives?

First of all, we must understand that God never intended for there to be more than one way of salvation from our eternal darkness other than Him.  It is His way alone that shines bright into the darkness that the world provides.  It is through His Son’s blood that covers us and provides us with the shielding grace that God sees our lives as pure white and spotless in existence.  Secondly, it was never Jesus’ intentions to establish His Church based upon a man, nor was it His intentions to establish countless denominations that serve only to confuse man and to pacify human interpretations.  His intentions for the creation, establishment, development and growth of His Church is strictly founded upon His Father’s Kingdom principles and nothing more, and since you and I represent Kingdom, it is up to all of us to spread the true Gospel of salvation to the dark and dying world.

It is through these distractions that the Church has become inundated with extra items that we have deemed necessary to stock up in our inventories.  Yes, some of these items come in handy and the nuggets of feel good messages do the trick at times, but they do not represent what it takes for the dying world to be told that they need God.  Many of today’s churches preach a fornicated and prostituted gospel and influence people in such an identical manner.  The Gospel of God is not an ear tickling message, but one of war that separates a person from the kingdom of the world and that this separation is in the form of a war for your eternal existence.  It is at this point where the unnecessary items that we have been taught and are teaching to the world become outdated and totally useless.  The Church has grossly fattened herself with these ridiculous and scandalous items that have no representation or meaning to what Jesus established in order for His Church and our mission to be used.

What is most concerning to God is that His Church relishes herself in these useless items and places them out as catching devices in order to lure people into the walls of her sanctuaries.  She has condensed the Bible down to a few certain meanings and trough human interpretations provided a false sense of security with the inventory that she sees around her.  With her eyes focused on this inventory she cannot help but promote the identical inventory to the world and this state begs the question as to how she will survive on the true daily bread when it becomes obvious that the stocked up inventory has no use for her personal well-being.

The true inventory that God has provided us and the one that we need for eternal survival is His unadulterated, intact, everlasting and complete Word.  God has never watered down His commands or His ways, nor shall He ever do so either.  God has always been thorough and complete in everything that He has created, developed and executed and He shall not waiver from this standard.  This is the inventory that He wants the Church to have dwelling inside her heart, it is this inventory that He gave us in the beginning and it is this inventory that is required in order to convince a dying world that they are doomed to a dark eternity. God’s inventory is full of life and vitality that is readily available but the Church has instead stocked up on useless food that provides nothing but useless products instead of what the world really needs.

It is this type of useless inventory that God sees as sin.  It provides nothing in the way of truth where the eternal life of the person is concerned.  It does not provide the correct nourishment for the dying world and it definitely does not supply any truth to what is needed.  The type of true preparation that is needed comes in the story of Joseph in Egypt concerning the approaching famine or the story of the 10 virgins when waiting for the groom and how they needed to be prepared for they did not know when he was to show up.  Examples of an improper inventory include the children of Israel when they did not listen to the commands of God in the desert and took in too much manna in which it spoiled and was not useful.  There are countless more examples of both types of examples in our societies today it is not hard to find them, but sadly, there are a far greater number of useless inventories present that of the one that God deems as necessary.  We cannot ever forget that it is the inventories that God needs and not the inventories that we believe He needs and the only way that we can obtain His inventories is to ground ourselves into His Word.

Has God tapped on anyone’s toes yet?  The prime example of a bad or useless inventory comes in the form of our perception of God’s Word.  Humans absolutely love to use God’s Word for their own purposes and in doing so weed out or ignore those passages which they do not wish to recognize or adhere to, which makes the passages that they wish to here easier to spin and interpret for their own good instead of allowing them to witness to their spirit according to God’s plan for their lives.  I wish I could say that only people who have issues with God or do not care to know God fall into this category, but it must be proclaimed that the Church also follows this type of false inventory guidelines as well.  God is a complete and thorough God and for Him to be such ALL of His ways must be active and alive at the same time none can be idle.  If ANY deviation is believed from humans, they are and shall automatically provide a false inventory and one that cannot be used when operating the Church’s mission.

When I bring over too many reagent slide packs to my side of the lab all they do is sit there and do the patients no good, they are useless to the ones who need answers at that moment.  The provisions are there but the inventory is sitting idle for it is an inventory that is no good for the person in need.  It is God’s desire that we clean out our useless inventories and begin to once again use the inventory of God’s Word for the world.  But we must first return to His ways in order for us to voluntarily allow Him to remove the uselessness and to restore the correct and necessary inventory according to His ways and authority. 

Word of warning here and this comes straight from the heart of God.  We can allow ourselves to voluntarily allow God to restore our useless inventories now and the process shall go a lot smoother.  Plus, it will be of great use and provide an excellent example to the world that God loves us so very much and that He does not desire that anyone die without knowing Him.  Or, we can stubbornly choose to thumb our noses at God and force Him to act as the holy, just, and complete parent that He is and allow Him the opportunity to change our lives and wake us up according to His standards of correction.  It is simple, the choice is strictly up to us.  We have voluntarily allowed our personal and national dominions to be compromised through our personal choices to accept the ways of the world into every aspect of our lives.  God sees this pattern of choices and has stayed steady up until now, but as any good parent does he shall wait until the appropriate time to show up and remind us that He is the parent and in control.

God urges us to return back to His ways by giving up our useless inventories and to allow Him to provide the correct inventory that the world needs.  A well-stocked inventory of useless items may look good to the eye but in truth the vastness of that inventory is useless.  There is nothing about God that is useless for everything that He is, represents eternal life.  It is clear that the inventories that we have stored up are not of those items deemed necessary in heaven, but God offers nothing but peace, hope, love and eternal life to those who accept His inventory, the inventory that promotes His agenda and ways and not those of a useless world.

DLB