The Squeeze of Pressure

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The octagonal Heinz ketchup bottle was patented in 1890. The bottle is know for its iconic shape. However, the eight sided ketchup bottle posed issues for both the consumer and the brand. Consumers were often perplexed by the difficulty of getting the thick condiment out of the bottle. Sometimes, they resorted to sticking a knife in the bottle, resulting in a messy red goo all over the handle. Pounding on the bottom of the bottle sometimes worked. But, at times, it produced a flying burst of ketchup that could land anywhere. Eventually, Heinz found a way to take the stress out of the ketchup bottle. The inverted the plastic squeeze bottle let people start applying the ketchup with a lot less effort and frustration, even when the bottle was nearly empty. Stress and pressure that comes from stress comes in many forms, much more frustrating then getting some ketchup on your hamburger. Here are some things that may cause you stress: the toilet is plugged, the water heater burst and flooded the house, the alarm didn't go off and your running late for work and on the way to work you hit every red light possible, the temperature is freezing and your car won't start and your kids are sick and you must stay home from work and your already so far behind you feel like you will never get caught up. This is only the beginning of the list of things that can stress you. 

Philippians 4:6 ESV do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 

Stress, pressure, we work under it. We are driven by it. We suppress it. We deny it and try to escape it. We take vitamins for it. We feel it in our chest. Our stomach churns. Our palms get sweaty. And all of us are squeezed by it. What comes out of you when you are squeezed? What comes out of you when milk is spilled all over the brand new carpet? What comes out of you when a child throws a tantrum at the worst possible time or when you get cut off in traffic, or your husband says something unloving? Thank God I never say anything unflattering to my wife!... The truth is: whatever is inside of you will spill out when you are squeezed under the pressure and stress of life! The bible tells us that there is a holy war going on inside of us. Our flesh wants to scream and lash out at the person or thing that has squeezed us and caused us stress. 

Romans 7: 18-19 ESV For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 

When the stress of life puts the squeeze on and I want my own space, my own way, my own silence or rest. I need to remember that Jesus left the comfort of His home in heaven, where He was worshiped and adored to die on a cross for me a rebellious sinners!

Romans 5:8 ESV but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

He died for me, even though when I am squeezed by the pressures of life and I react in a way that is far less then heavenly and am everything or anything but perfect, He still forgives and loves me. He loved me enough to send his only begotten Son to die for me. Christ died for us while we were still sinners, which is to say that Christ didn’t die for the perfect and the put together, as if there are any such people. He died for the weak, the wicked, the broken, the rebellious, the ungodly. God, in His divine nature, didn't wait for us to be worthy or even to seek Him out, but actively pursued us, a rebellious and evil people.

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