Not just a discarded button

When I was a child, we had this yellowed and well-aged Tupperware container which was filled with all manner of buttons.  As clothing were worn out, the buttons would be severed from the worn garment and they would be added to the button box.  Buttons ranged from big, bulky ones which probably adorned coats and outerwear in days gone by, to smaller, rather plain ones which likely held shirts together.  That old button box was pulled out on more occasions than I can count to mend a shirt cuff with a missing button, or add a finishing touch to some outfit.  From rich brown to bright white, the colors were sure to match something somewhere down the line.  We'd dump them out, finding just the right one to match the one we'd carelessly lost somewhere along the way.  One thing I always remembered about that box - no button was too insignificant to add to it.  If the garment was no longer able to fulfill the purpose for which it had been created because of tattered cuffs, worn out knees, or just being plain thread-bare, the buttons would be added.  Maybe my grandmother was into recycling long before it was ever called that, but it served to save many an outfit which would have otherwise been almost unwearable without the added button.  I wonder if we get added to God's family in the same manner - almost worn to the frazzle, kind of not fulfilling the purpose for which we were created, and a little "bare" when it comes to the former "glory" we once might have displayed?

Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God.  Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love,  and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6 CEB)

During the midday shows on TV, grandma used to drag that old button box out.  I knew she wasn't about to mend clothes, though.  It was Bingo time!  The local TV station hosted this form of TV Bingo which stay at home moms took part in as they labored over the evening's meal, laundered the family's clothes, or pressed those starched white shirts.  Grandma used to listen for the commercials, then she'd grab a button from the box, prepared to add it to her bingo card in hopes of winning some appliance or the like from the TV station or one of their sponsors.  The cards would be riddled with big buttons, colored ones, and even smaller plain ones.  It kind of spoke to me about how we can serve many a purpose in life - not just the ones we "think" we could serve.  Everyone knew those buttons could serve to hold together a garment, but who actually imagined they could be a placeholder on a bingo card in the middle of a housewife's busy day?

A couple of lessons from the button box might just be important for us to learn today:

- We are never too old or insignificant to serve a purpose in this life.  We might not be fulfilling the original purpose we fulfilled for years and years, but even into our old age, there is significance in our lives.  Those old buttons weren't discarded - they were re-purposed.  I don't know about you, but I think we might do well to "re-purpose" those whose primary role in life might have changed because of loss of a loved one, the advancing of years, or the change in one's work status.  We all fulfill a purpose and that purpose can change over time - we don't stop serving just because something changes in our lives - we might just need our purpose redefined a little.

- We all matter - not one "button" in the box was insignificant.  We are all gathered into one big "box" of sorts - the family of God.  Each of us is different from the next.  That is what gave that box much of its charm - the variety within it.  The same is true of God's family - the greater the variety, the greater the "charm".  There wasn't one button too insignificant to find a place in the box, nor is there one person too insignificant to find a place in God's family.

- We never know when we will be called upon to serve.  The buttons weren't discarded - they were held in reserve for that time when their service would be called upon again.  Long into my adult years, that box went everywhere with me.  Long after grandma passed and we had moved hither and yon, that box served to provide adornment for many an outfit or decoration for a craft project I would undertake in order to spruce up my home.  Those buttons served time and time again - some in similar capacity - others in quite unique ways.  

- We never know the memories held up in the lives of those "buttons" in the box.  As with those buttons, human beings all have "memories" of where they have been, what they have experienced, and what they have done over their years.  None is without merit.  We can learn great truths from the "buttons in our box" if we will allow them to teach their varied and beautiful lessons!  

To this day, I see buttons here and there, discarded from someone's garment.  Likely they don't even realize they have lost such a valued treasure.  When they discover the loss, they might search high and low to find just the right one to replace what has been lost.  Buttons are kind of like people - they might be lost for a while, but they are difficult to replace.  Just sayin!

Get me off this hamster wheel!!!

Have you ever felt "stifled"?  You know what I mean - the feeling like every step you want to take is just held back, like every dream is crushed, or there is some force just standing in the way of you moving forward.  The feeling might be one of the walls "closing in" around you - like you just can feel the very space you occupy on this earth as getting smaller and smaller!  In the most literal sense, being stifled means something similar to being choked out, much like we'd "choke out" a campfire.  You smother it with something like dirt long enough and in sufficient quantities until it just has no way of receiving the very thing it needs to continue on - oxygen!  As a result, it is "choked out" - smothered or stifled.

For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate.  (Galations 6:14 MSG)

Did you ever stop to consider the position of being a "people-pleaser"?  Whenever we assume the role of trying to live up to some standard set by this or that individual in our lives, we are allowing them to determine what is expected of us, how we should respond, and even what we should feel as a result of our actions.  In the end, we are quite miserable - because it is IMPOSSIBLE to please people!  Try as we might, the target is a constantly moving, so ever being in a position of really "pleasing" another is quite difficult!  I have been trained to hit a moving target - but the ability to hit the moving ones doesn't allow me much accuracy in my shot - it only allows me to "graze" them on occasion!  At best, we "graze" the demands of another - never really hitting them "dead on".

It is quite easy to get caught up in the little spinning "hamster wheel" of being a people-pleaser, isn't it?  It truly is a "hamster wheel" kind of experience - just spinning endlessly without any real end to the demands.  Today we spin a little, thinking we are making real progress, but tomorrow, we realize the wheel is moving, but we are really in the same spot as we were yesterday!  Being on the "hamster wheel" in relationships where we become wrapped up in pleasing people is tiring business.

Paul says something quite revealing in our passage.  As long as we are on this "hamster wheel" of being "people-pleasers", we aren't keeping the Lord central in our lives.  Here is the crux of our decision - do we put Christ first, even in our relationships, or do we continue to allow others to determine our steps?  Scripture tells us the steps of a righteous man are "ordered" - they aren't spinning out of control and going nowhere.  They are "ordered" - done according to specific principles and well-planned.  When we are wrapped into the control of always trying to please this one or that one, we find fulfilling each of their demands begins to violate some principle we know better than to violate.  For example, we begin to lose control of our time.  We find our time for things which "add to" our character begins to wane - time for meditating on God's Word, time for being quiet before God for a while, etc.  The principle of seeking the Kingdom of God FIRST begins to take second place, then third, until one day we find our time for relationship with our Lord in last place!

The cross changed everything in our lives.  Nothing remained the same - the patterns we followed changed.  I think this is what Paul hoped we see - the hamster wheel is no longer our "place" of operation.   We stepped off the wheel the moment we embraced the cross.  We exchanged positions - no longer living by the changing rules of those who make demands of us, but living by the unchanging grace of God!  Why do we ever drift into the "spinning wheel" of being people-pleasers?  Isn't it because we aren't really sure of our identity apart from their approval?  Paul wants us to recognize our "identity" and our "approval" are linked to the cross of Christ.  We find our true selves at the foot of the cross and we go about living as our true selves by keeping ourselves right there!  Move back on the wheel, and our identity becomes governed by the approval of others once again!  So, where we chose to "anchor" ourselves makes all the difference!

Pleasing others is really stifling.  This requirement added to the next one eventually chokes out the very thing we need for life!  Nothing stokes the fire of our hearts better than being close enough to God to actually feel his breath gently nudging fire from the embers of our heart!  On the spinning wheel, we only feel the pressure of the wheel.  At the cross, we feel the breath of hope, grace, and love.  One takes away our breath - the other breathes life back into a tired and worn-out spirit!  Which one will you choose?

One, two, three...poof!

Let the fast-talking tricksters be exposed as frauds; they tried to sell me a bill of goods, but I kept my mind fixed on your counsel. 
   Let those who fear you turn to me for evidence of your wise guidance. 
   And let me live whole and holy, soul and body, so I can always walk with my head held high.

(Psalm 119:78-80 The Message)

David is setting out a prayer to God in our passage this morning.  It is composed of three parts:  1) How he wants God to deal with those who stand against him; 2) How he hopes God will use him in the lives of others; and 3) How he expects to live with God's help.  


First, let's look at David's prayer about his enemies - - fast-talking tricksters who tried to sell him a bill of goods.  When we are encountered by someone "selling a bill of goods" we usually see that we have two choices: accept what they say at face-value, or reject it at face-value.  We really have a third choice: investigate it for truth rather than trusting the face-value.  When someone is trying to sell you a bill of goods, they are attempting to have you accept something that is untrue or is of little value to you.  David says his life has been exposed to this kind of "trickery" and he now wants God to expose the lack of truth in the bill of goods these enemies have been trying to pass of as true.


We often are exposed to these kinds of "schemes".  Just think back to the last set of TV commercials or printed advertisements you encountered.  The wallet that you can drive over with a car and it opens gracefully without a scratch or dent in its frame.  The immediate release of stains with a generous application of this magic cleaner.  A promise of teeth bright enough to signal men in outer space with the simple application of a tiny strip.  The list could go on and on.  You get my point.  I have tried to open the wallet straight out of its packaging and found it more than difficult even BEFORE you run over it with a truck!  The stains just don't come out in one easy swish of the shirt in the magic cleaner!  The white teeth don't even seem to turn the head of the puppy in the window, let alone the men in my life!

The fast-talking tricksters WILL be exposed - - their trickery is God's business to expose, not ours.  We "deal" with their trickery by having an accurate "test" whereby to "filter" their claims - - the counsel of God.

Second, David has a deep hope that God will use his life to touch the lives of others.  He has a desire to be a living "testimony" of what God does when he has complete access to a life.  David starts with a prayer for God to deal with those who have no evidence of truth in their lives, then he turns to himself.  He knows that God has been working to create evidence of truth deep within his frame.  In turn, he asks God to use that evidence to give both assurance and hope to those who will turn to him in search of the reality they cannot find elsewhere.  He is asking God to make his life an open declaration of all that God has been doing within.  

This is a pretty brave request on his part - - expose the work you are doing in me.  I don't know about you, but anytime I get to the part where I think God might just expose what has been going on in my life, I get a little nervous!  Why is that?  I think it might be the fact we are not always comfortable with others knowing our struggles.  If others see that we struggle, they see us as human - - this is the basis of David's prayer.  He wants others to see the reality of what God can do when a heart is yielded to his care.  There is nothing shameful in exposure - - when God does the work of exposing!

Last, David prays for himself.  This is not a selfish prayer in any respect.  He is asking God to "cement" the work he has been doing so that he need not be ashamed of his behavior.  When David asks God to let him live whole and holy, soul and body, so he can always walk with his head held high, he is beginning the process of yielding.  He is willing to submit mind, will, emotions, and spirit to the care of God - - giving up the need to be in control of self.  This is a prayer God delights in answering.  In fact, when we see this prayer coupled with the other two, we understand the importance.  In asking God to make his testimony strong and his ability to stand as evidence of truth in the midst of much untruth.

I don't know if you are dealing with fast-talking tricksters today, but if you find that your path is riddled with their schemes, take them to God.  He has both the "filter" by which you can evaluate their claims and the ability to silence them with evidence beyond argument!  If you have been struggling with something you just don't think God will ever use, don't be surprised when God urges you to allow him to make it a testimony of his power and grace.  When he urges, he also empowers.  Walking with head held high is God's greatest honor - - when he sees us yielded, engaged in this walk we call Christianity, he is honored greatly.