By Susan Shanklin

I was vacuuming up construction dust the other day for the umpteenth time, and I was thinking about how we, people, should be a vacuum. We should be sucking up everything GOOD that life has to offer. 

I know vacuums are for sucking up stuff we want to get rid of but just think about using a vacuum to suck up the good stuff.

We are using our vacuum to suck up all the news and commentary about what is going on in the world, and we become only focused on the ugly. We get caught up in the bitter, the unlovely, the gruesome, and the wicked, and we become blind to the goodness of God. We expect the world to be painful when we get up in the morning. We expect data on deaths and murders. We expect wars and suffering. 

We begin to expect the worst instead of the best and the beautiful.

I’m not denying pain, war, and the uglies. It’s real. It’s happening. 

God, I believe, is still looking for the best and the brightest—the ever-shining lights of this world. It’s Christ in us, the HOPE of glory. If God is for you, can anyone be against you? 

I just want you to know that God can hear, see, and feel the same world that you and I are living in. He is not deaf, blind, or cold-hearted.

His breathing treasures are you and me. Your brightness with hope is what He is counting on. You are His vessel to make this world better. When you are born again, His heart and spirit come into you. His strength is your power to overcome any and all hurdles the evil powers have set against you … and others. 

We do not take the written Word seriously enough. It becomes just another self-help book. We think it might work, and then again, it might not work. 

I can tell you one thing. The evil one has set his ugly vacuum on your mind and heart and is trying to suck the life right out of you. 

Well, how dare you, Susan, to speak to me that way? I love God, and I love reading your articles. How dare you?

It’s time we change the bags in our vacuums. Change those filters too. Your filters are clogged with small impurities, and it’s blocking your heart from the good things that God has for you.

If God said it, it must be true. No, God said it, so it IS true. You can take it to the bank. You can build your house on it. You can raise your children on it. You can put it in your medical records. 

It’s not “Woe is me,” it’s “He is great in me!” No buts. No buts. No buts.

We cannot put our hope or salvation in any other name but Jesus. 

“Oh, Susan,” you might say. “Now you are being too simplistic. The things of God are complicated, and it’s hard to understand just what the Word of God means. I have heard many teachings on that subject, and … blah, blah, blah … I know it doesn’t really mean what it says.”

Let’s change the ugly bag and start fresh with “His mercies new every morning!” Every day, every day is new! It’s never been played out before. New words can be uttered. New prayers can be spoken. New hopes. New lIfe. 

There used to be a commercial on TV for used sports equipment. This funny-looking guy would say, “Why buy new when you could have used?”

I say to you, “Why think old when you can have new.”

Newness of life—free from the bonds of iniquity. 

Freedom has your name written all over it. Health has your name written all over it. Your name was written with His blood. 

God has this world in His care. Our Father who is in heaven. Holy is your Name. Your will be done on EARTH as it is in Heaven.

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