A lot of the people that I work with happen to smoke cigarettes. It's never been a pleasing smell to me and sometimes it's so potent to the point where I stop breathing out of my nose. When my co-workers come back from their break and I can smell that on them, I know exactly what they've done. It's pretty obvious. Something that I also notice is that some of them will put on heavy amounts of perfume to cover up that stench. But believe me, you can still smell it. That's the kind of smell that stays with you. And if it's not the hint of cigarettes coming from their mouth, the ridiculous amount of perfume gives away that this is not how they normally smell.
My little sister, Molly, is 15. Since she's 15, she doesn't have her license and when I'm home, I turn into the soccer mom and drive her to friends' houses, dance rehearsal, choir performances, etc. Molly is still in that mindset that she has to look good in front her friends (after being in college, I can't believe that I ever thought that way too... So funny). When I go to drive her to places, she always loads on copious amounts of her Brittany Spears Circus perfume (I only know that because that was my birthday present to her last year... no condemnation...). I joke around and tell her that it's so strong that she needs to take a lap around the block to air herself out before getting in the car. We want to smell good for people. Why do we put on perfume or deodorant? So that it is pleasing to others. When we smell foul people don't want to be around us. Same goes with our relationship with God. When we're with God, we give off "the aroma of Christ". It draws people near to us and therefore nearer to God. If Jesus put out a cologne, I know that it would be called "Life" because that's what people smelled when they were around Him. Our quiet times should reflect us being drenched in Life to the point where it's too obvious to ignore. When we come out of a quiet time and intense time with Yahweh, can people tell what we've been doing without a word being uttered? Or do we try to cover it up with the smell of everyday life so people have to try to smell Jesus on us?
When we encounter our friends, family, co-workers, etc, do they smell God on us? Can they smell life on us? When we are filled with the love of God that should radiate from us. But does it? Are we acting in a manner of God's call for our lives? To be honest, I have to ask that of myself frequently. I have to stop and check myself to make sure that the life I am living is reflecting the God that is in me.
When reading the passage the other morning, verse 36 and 40 totally shook me. "Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you." "Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land of the LORD your God is giving you for all time." Recently, I listened to a sermon series from Darrell Johnson on the Ten Commandments. In it he talked about how the the Ten Commandments were not just a set of rules that God aimlessly gave us to follow. They had purpose. He used the analogy about how when we struggle with a product, we look to the instruction manual to help us figure out how it works. That's the Word of God for us. These Commandments aren't there to boss us around; they're there to instruct us on how we best operate. When things are going wrong in our lives, read the manual! In the scripture, the author puts it even more in our face that following God's Law is to our benefit. Jesus says that "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:30). The Law of God isn't a chore that we have to do but rather it is God's way of pointing us to Him. The discipline is easy because it's how we're created to be! His discipline is restoring us to be more and more like Him.
When we give into the discipline of God, we radiate the love of God so that nobody can ignore the love that we have inside us. What do people smell on you? Is it your way or is it Yahweh? (sorry to ruin a deep thought with a pun but I had to)
I definitely see the life and freedom of Christ in you Mike. Keep seeking because the only begotten is being begotten in you.
ReplyDeleteChrist said "blessed are those who hunger and thirst. . . . . for righteousness." Seems that Christ's supper, the Lord's supper, smells the best to those who are hungry and thirsty.
Hunger and thirst helps me understand God's discipline in my life quite a bit.
When I'm comfortable and filled with "not-god" - possessions, influence, impressive wardrobe, compliments, achievements" - I either don't smell what God's cooking or have a resistance to the smell of the Lord's supper.
When I'm uncomfortable with "not-God" and when I am not satisfied with "not-God" I tend to have a powerful appetite for Christ's haunting aromas.
Thus, the discipline of God often works to wrestle out of my hands the "not-God" of this world so that like Jacob I become the clinging defeated - simultaneously emptied (by wrestling) of "not-God" and yet passionately clinging to . . . . GOD!
My spiritual journey sometimes appears (to me at least) as a process where God constantly works in me, through me, and around me to expose my hunger for Him so that I'd actually seek Him first and live with HIS fullness of LIFE instead of living for some weak imitation.
Sometimes Mike I think of the instruction manual also! But why as a guy is it so easy to look to it only when we have a problem? I love the idea that we should be looking at it to better understand how to use the product. Instead of ripping open the product and trying to use it, without looking at the directions, and then becoming frustrated, then reading the directions only to find out that it needed batteries!
ReplyDeleteI think this is the one of the more powerful aspects of this study is that we are reading the directions before using the product! Discipleship = Automatic Evangelism!
And yes it makes me laugh each time I eat out, and the server is gone for a little while then comes back wreaking of smoke :) At least it helps in the statement of "I wonder where our server is."