When we get use to the stench...

                                                        
               My nature is very shy. I can be very timid and have a difficult time saying or doing anything that I think could "hurt" someone's feelings. I have struggled with this my whole life. I have prayed for boldness and courage but every day I still struggle with the timidness that tries to take over. I want my words to be full of grace and gentleness and to reflect the love of Christ in all that I do and say. This is something that I pursue with great passion...the fruits of the spirit. I am a peacemaker by spirit....it is who God created me to be.
     However, I am learning that doesn't mean that I don't take a stand. It doesn't mean that I don't speak up. In fact....I am learning that being a peacemaker means that I DO speak up! Bringing peace means speaking truth....because only then can there be true peace. That may mean that I have to say some things that may ruffle a few feathers...and I am learning to be ok with that.
      So you may just want to click off this blog right now...you don't have to read it. You get to choose what you do with this blog...turn it off, or read on....
       So here goes....I watch this show called," Hoarders"....it completely fascinates me for many reasons but mainly because I love the human brain. I am fascinated with how it works and what makes us think the way we do. SO on this particular episode, I was watching a woman who had a hoarding problem with cats. It didn't matter if they were alive or dead...she kept them in her home....and in her ice box. As I am watching the video camera sweep the interior of her home, it shows us the condition of her living space. It is completely covered in cat urine and feces. She walks over it barefoot...oblivious of what she is walking on. It covers every inch of her home....she eats at a table that is covered in cat feces, from food that is stored in her ice box that is stuffed with dead cats...she sleeps on a mattress that is covered in dead cats and cat deposits. When the people who came to help her went into her home, they began to gag and many of them had to go back outside because the stench was unbearable. The counselor who was there to help her asked her if she smelled how bad it was to which she replied that she did not. You see, she had been in that home, in that condition for so long now that the smell was normal. Walking across cat feces or sitting next to a dead cat was completely normal to her because she did it every day....and it made me think about us as believers.
    See, I have read many times the Scriptures that talk about our lives as a sweet aroma to God...2 Corinth 2:15 and Eph. 5:2 and so we know that there is an actual spiritual smell that comes from us walking with God and it is pleasing to Him...but is there a "smell" of the world?  As I watched this show of Hoarders, I thought about how many things have become," normal" for us spiritually speaking...and the aroma it is sending to our Heavenly Father. I believe that we are walking around with the stench of the world on us and we don't even know it. Because it is "normal". 

         We have all heard about the "slow fade" and it is very real. We have allowed more and more things of the world into our lives...whether it be movies, music, conversations, thoughts, how we dress, or actions.....and by allowing them we have begun the slow fade. We have become much like the hoarder. She didn't just wake up one day and decide to fill her house with dead cats. It was one moment after another moment...one choice and then another...that lead her to believe that living with the stench of dead cats was normal. Is this not how we are?! Now I am NOT saying that books, movies, ect....are evil or bad or any such thing. I AM saying that we are called to be IN this world but not OF it. I am saying that we are suppose to be set apart. I am saying that we are should be different from those around us. 
          Let me give you an example in my own life....I love a good love story. The sappy make you cry the nasty cry kind of love story. The one that gets right in your heart and you hate it when it is over kind of love story. And so I have watched many, many love story movies and one of my all-time favorites is." The Notebook."....sigh.....I mean it is seriously beautiful....but recently I have been praying and asking God to show me any areas in my life that I have allowed to "fade" and God quickly led me straight to my deep desire for love stories. In that very favorite movie of mine," The Notebook", they have a rather steamy scene in it and they are not married. Because it is written in to the beautiful story line of this beautiful movie, I have always "overlooked" that part. I mean I know it is wrong to have premarital sex and all so I can just watch the movie and "ignore" that part. God showed me how it grieved His heart...and it broke mine. Because I wanted to watch this movie and because it was just that "one little" part...I had compromised. I mean I have spent alot of my life speaking out against premarital sex. It is something that I am fiercely passionate about....but I had compromised because premarital sex in a good love story is "normal"....see my point? God doesn't change His views on premarital sex because it is written into a beautiful love story. He doesn't lower His holiness so that we can watch "just that one"....this was ( and still is) hard for me. Maybe...just maybe...the stench had become" normal" to me....

        When God brought this to my heart, I began to see how easy it is to "fade". I don't ever want to make light of something that Christ had to die for. I don't ever want to justify something I want to do or read or watch or wear or whatever....when Christ gave up His life to set us free from those things. It's hard for me to put into words but this isn't about a bunch of "rules" I have to keep or obey....not at all! This is about the greatest, most sacrifical love story of all time! This is about LOVE! This is about us loving our King above EVERYTHING else. This is about us learning of His great love pursuit of us that it leaves us breathless and in awe of WHO HE IS. This isn't about grace allowing us to do whatever we want ( Romans 6:15), this is about us thinking on things above and walking in ways that draw us closer to the heart of the Father. This is about a covenant between the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE and us.... the created walking around with the breath of God in our lungs. 
      I am discovering more and more that many of us spend very little actual time in God's Word on our own. According to the American Bible Society in 2013  only 26 % of Americans who consider themselves believers of Christ read their Bible on a regular basis ( four or more times a week) while 57% said they read their Bibles four times a year OR LESS! No wonder it is so easy for us to fade!We will claim the Bible is full of wisdom that can help us but we are unwilling to sacrifice our time from our movies, books, friends, lives....to find out what that wisdom is. We just keep getting more and more use to the stench and it becomes more and more "normal" for us to live in it and for it to be a part of us. And just like that woman had gotten so use to how she was living that she didn't notice it anymore, so we live. We have gotten use to the stench of the world and it is now our "normal."
  I don't want the world's stench to be normal to me. I don't want to be afraid to stand up for the ONE who DIED for me. And quite honestly, when all we teach is God's character of grace and love, we are only teaching PART of His character. He is a jealous God. ( Deut. 4:24) He is HOLY. ( Rev. 4:8) And He loves us with a deep love. ( John 3:16) 
    I am not talking to those who do not believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ....I am talking to those who do. I am talking to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are losing their spiritual eyesight to see the war. I am talking to the warriors who have put down their weapons to pick up the enemies toys to play during the war.  I feel so passionate about this because I have many non-believers who ask me over and over why they would need to ask Jesus in their hearts when everyone around them lives just like them....and they are talking about in the church. They don't see the need for Jesus because nothing is different and so they don't get the point....and it breaks my heart. We are living in times that have crisis levels of suicide, divorce, depression, and addictions....people are desperate for truth. They are groaning within because they want to find the light when the darkness and fear is closing in all around them....and my heart breaks because they see no difference in their lives and the lives of those who call themselves "believers" and so they find no hope...this has to change.

       We have to be set apart. We have to be different. This is something we are CALLED to do by God Himself. ( 2 Timothy 2:21-22)  I recently read an article that made such a good point for me....it was this:   The prophet Jeremiah spoke to the people of Judea, preaching about what would be necessary if they wanted to remain "blessable" by God.  When King Josiah died, the culture darkened and Jeremiah warned the people that God would discipline.  I believe his words to the people of Judea are the same words a prophet would speak to our American culture.  Jeremiah said:"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.  'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.  Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?  No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.  So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the Lord.  This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.  But you said, 'We will not walk in it" (Jeremiah 6:13-16).
     So here we stand...at the crossroads....are we willing to walk in the ancient paths and ask where the good way is and walk in it? That may mean that we have to give up a book we love, a movie we adore, a way we dress, or a conversation we like....but isn't He WORTHY? You were so worthy to Him that He gave up ALL of His kingdom to come to earth and live as a man. He showed us how to walk IN the world but not OF it...step by step...and He gave us these beautiful God-breathed words called the Bible to continue our training...all we have to do is walk in it....and realize the stench of the world is not pleasing to Him. Be different. Be brave. Be courageous. 

           This was not an easy thing for me to write....over and over I would erase and re-write it because I do not want my words to ever judge or condemn....I struggle more than anyone knows with these very things I wrote about. I pray that if you did hang in there and read all of these words, that the Holy Spirit will help them fall on your heart the way that He desires for them to. I write this in being obedient and that isn't always easy...and I will admit my heart thrummed in fear when I thought about posting it because I know all to well the harsh judgement of people ....but I am also continually learning to just trust and obey.... so I will leave you with this verse as it sums up how I feel: 2 Corinthians 10:1-5 " 10 Christ is humble and free of pride. Because of this, I make my appeal to you. I, Paul, am the one you call “shy” when I am face to face with you. But when I am away from you, you think I am “bold” toward you. 2 I am coming to see you. Please don’t make me be as bold as I expect to be toward some people. They think that I live the way the people of this world live. 3 I do live in the world. But I don’t fight my battles the way the people of the world do. 4 The weapons I fight with are not the weapons the world uses. In fact, it is just the opposite. My weapons have the power of God to destroy the camps of the enemy. 5 I destroy every claim and every reason that keeps people from knowing God. I keep every thought under control in order to make it obey Christ.