Time + Truth = Trust

One of the things I have to manage in my jewelry business at The Karat Patch is security. I must provide security not only for all the jewelry in the store, but also for any jewelry that people may have left for repair. I provide that security whether the store is closed or open, i.e. 24/7. I have found (especially lately) that people are more inquisitive about whether or not we provide such security. My guess is that in these uncertain times, when everyone seems to have lost something...money in a 401K, their job, their car, what-have-you...that the thing they have lost most is their trust. They can't trust their investments, they can't trust in the job security of their company and so on. So I understand when people are a bit more curious about the security of their jewelry...they don't want to lose that too. The trouble is, I can't really tell them or show them just how secure things are without compromising that security in one form or another. The best I can do is to look them in the eye and say "your things are secure" with the full confidence that I have told them the truth. After a customer visits enough times, and my truth is proven, then trust is achieved. Time + Truth = Trust.

Time + Truth = Trust. I thought about that little formula and how it applies to the occasion of a person accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. Some people can hear the Gospel once and believe. Other people need to hear it many times. It’s been said that most folks hear the Gospel an average of seven times before they accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

Sometimes we are sowers and sometimes we are reapers. I might be the sower that presents the Gospel to someone six times and they don’t believe, but you present it that seventh time and they do believe. I sowed – you reaped. Some folks just need to hear the same truth several (or more) times before they trust what they have been told. Time + Truth = Trust.

But whether we sow or reap, we both work for the same master. When the harvest comes everyone rejoices…the sower, the reaper, and the master (John 4:36). One thing is certain; there must be trust. When we sow, we must trust that the seed is good and will bring forth fruit (Isaiah 55:11). When we reap we must trust that the master will keep the harvest secure (John 17:12). And the master must trust that we will do this work for Him to which we have been commissioned (Matthew 28:19-20).
Time + Truth = Trust. Trust then produces security, and security produces peace. And there’s nothing like being at peace.

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Time and The God-Shaped Hole

Out of Time
We change watch batteries at The Karat Patch on a daily basis. Every now and then we get a watch that someone else has already tried to “fix”. One time a customer brought in a watch and when they handed it to me they said “I need a battery for my watch”. Right thing to say….right?

Can't Find the Time
But they didn’t say “I need you to change the battery in my watch”. So when I got back to the work area and removed the back of the watch I found just what they meant……..the watch had no battery in it. As I was discovering this, the customer was telling me they thought they could change the battery themselves and opened the watch to see what battery it needed, only to have the battery pop out of the compartment and roll to a place to which they could not find it.

Too Much Time
Just so you know there are about 50 different sizes of watch batteries. Thank goodness I have a template with openings to check a battery’s number by passing it though the template and it also gives the exact size of every battery in diameter and thickness. But this template only has about 18 openings in it. That’s because for any given diameter there are at least 3 or more thicknesses. So even with the template there is some checking to do to find the proper thickness. Even though there are batteries that will fit the opening and will make the watch run, there’s only one battery that fits perfectly. As I was fixing the problem of the watch with a hole in it that only one size of battery would fit, I thought about you and me…and Jesus.

The God-Shaped Hole
I thought about that ‘God-shaped hole’ in all of us. I thought about how there are a lot of things that can get put in that hole, but how only ONE thing fits that hole perfectly….Jesus. You know, like that watch, there were 8 batteries that could have been put in the hole that would fit the diameter, but not the thickness. Some were obviously way too thick….they fit the hole and touched the electrical contacts and made the watch run, but then I couldn’t get the back of the watch…well, back on the watch (uh, re-installed). Some were too thin, they still met the contacts but when the watch moved certain ways the battery would come off one of the contacts and the watch would run on and off. There was only one size that fit perfectly and made the watch operate well and perform its’ intended purpose…tell time.
There are a lot of things that we can put in that ‘God-shaped hole’ in all of us. I’ve tried to fill mine with all kinds of things that seemed to fit, but somehow I just didn’t operate all that well. And by ‘didn't operate well’ I mean not being able to perform my intended purpose. What purpose? I believe we are all created to commune with and serve Jesus, which is our intended purpose. Like putting those different batteries in a hole that they sort-of fit, we can fill the ‘God-shaped hole” with things that sort-of fit, but neither the watch nor our lives operate very well in those instances. The watch needs the right battery and we need the right God. Having too many other things going on in our lives that keep us from God is like having too big a battery in the watch (Exodus 20:3 and Matthew 6:19-21). Not doing enough for others or only doing for us is like having too thin a battery in the watch (Matthew 25:35-45). Sadly, there are some who spend their whole lives filling the God-shaped hole with anything and everything except the right thing. A bigger house, a fancier car, more money... will never be enough to fill that empty place in us. Jesus is the ONLY thing that fits the ‘God-shaped hole’.

Watches eventually need new batteries. Jesus never runs out of energy. Watches tell time. Jesus owns time, and therefore always has time…for you and me.

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