Nazis Were Bad

What a way to start a blog?  That statement is obvious to everyone that had an opportunity to see any Indiana Jones movie.  I do not make that statement to make light of the atrocities of the Holocaust, but follow me down a rabbit hole for a minute.

The Nazis, and more specifically Adolf Hitler, have ruined three things for the average Joe.  The first thing is the name Adolf.  No one ever names there kid Adolf anymore.  We are more likely to find a resurgence of the name Ethel and Gertie.  The second thing ruined is the tiny mustache.  Michael Jordan tried to bring it back about a year ago, but not even his airness and his truckloads of cool are able to bring this back en vogue.  Lastly, the Nazis destroyed the swastika.  The swastika was used as a symbol by American Indians, Buddhists, and even as far back as Ancient Iran (Persia).  I remember a teacher telling me I couldn't draw swastikas on my book cover when I was in elementary school.  Think about that for a second.  A seven or eight year old white kid walking around school with a book with Swastikas all over it that happen to have a German heritage. Today I would have been water-boarded and put in protective custody while my parents would have been vilified by Nancy Grace.  I didn't get it because I just thought they looked cool, but my teacher explained that bad people used the symbol and killed millions of people.  To this day I am not sure I follow this train of thought.  I didn't go to college, but I am almost certain that Nazis didn't bludgeon Jews to death with Swastikas.  This leads me to my point.  The name Adolf, the tiny mustache, and the swastika were not responsible for the Third Reich, but since they were used by people with evil purposes they have become verboten.  SO...What things in your life have you allowed to be tainted to the point that you feel as though you are no longer free to use it?

Revelation 21:5 (NIV) says, He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."  WOW!  God has given us His word to tell us that He is in the renovation business.  The Lord is anxious to touch those dead areas of our lives and make new fruit grow.  Many of us feel that our relationships are doomed because of a mistake that was made in the past.  Some of us think that because of a sin we committed in our past that we are no longer fit to do His work.  God disagrees.  God already used perfection perfectly on this earth.  God is now using our past imperfection to show what kind of work He can do when we give Him permission to get involved in our lives.

Thinking of that last sentence, permission is always something that we grant, right?  We are either granting permission to God, or by default we are granting permission to Satan.  Our failures are the result of giving Satan permission to meddle in our affairs.  I know what you are saying, "I never gave permission for Satan to mess with me."  Realize friends that our failure to give God license over all areas of our life is all the permission that Satan needs to wreak havoc over every thing we touch.  Think I'm wrong?  Follow this thought.

You go to church every time the doors are open.  Serve others.  Work Hard.  Praise Hard.  Share Jesus with others.  Spend money like there's no tomorrow.  What is going to happen?  You are going to be a bankrupt churchgoer.  Why?  Because you failed to follow God's plan for stewardship in your life.

The work that God is doing today requires that we reclaim the dead areas that Satan has taken from His people and that we give God the permission to dwell in our whole lives.  Satan has no power over you (since Jesus took his power).  So let's name our next male child Adolf, sport the tiny mustache, and proudly display our swastikas...or instead we could just make God the centerpiece of focus.  Yeah, that sounds better.