What's That Stench?

Have you ever had a moment where you hear or see something that's as common as humans wearing shoes, but it hits you in a totally different way, so it seems brand new? Since it's such a beautiful day out, I felt like warming my feathers for a while, and I realized something. You know that "outside smell" you have whenever you return inside a building? You never smell it while you're outside. I know, it's nothing to run to town about, but if you look at this with a different set of eyes, it could speak to you the way it did to me.

In this walk with God, it's so easy for us to forget what's important [those being disciple's of Christ]. While the bible gives explicit instruction on what to do, and what not to do, we have a tendency to bend the bible around our lives, instead of conforming our will to His. This brings me back to my "outside smell" analogy, it is very possible for sin to become so common that you become numb to it. In Romans 1 Paul talks about mankind's constant depravity and how they were given over to reprobate [morally unprincipled, wicked] minds. I say this to say that just because something doesn't seem wrong to us, it may very well be frowned upon in God's eyes. When you're outside, amongst the elements, you never smell that musty smell on your clothes, but as soon as you step inside you say "whew, I need to shower!"

The explanation of the "parable" (lol)

The elements outside are our surroundings, habits, what we do for "fun," or our "that's just the way I am" mindsets. The building we step inside is the will of God, and once we're in His will, we start to see (smell) those things for what they are. Once we're inside the building, we realize how funky the stuff we do really is. It's just embedded in us to do what WE want anyway, so we start to believe it's cool. No matter how harmless or normal it is to us, God may hate it with all His being. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to "abstain from all appearance of evil," so if it's something that we know God wouldn't be proud of we should run from it. We need to put on God's eyes and adopt His heart, so that our hearts can break for the things that break His heart.

We've read where Jesus says "if you love me, you will obey my commands," [John 14:15] but we have a different perspective on devotion to Christ. We often misinterpret what it means to "acknowledge Him in ALL our ways," [Proverbs 3:6 ]. As long as we say "I love Jesus," or quote scripture, we've acknowledged Him, but God calls for us to acknowledge Him with our lifestyles daily, not just a mere thought in His direction.

I don't want anyone to take my words for it, grab your bible and read His will for your life for yourself. Let's start being sensitive to the things that separate us from the will of the Father. This is in no way meant to cast judgement, I just wanted to share what was put in my heart. I hope you're encouraged.

Until next time...