I SMELL!

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God(Ephesians 5:1–5, ESV).

Just as the obedience of Christ was a fragrant aroma rising up to God, so our lives also have a scent. If our lives are pleasing to God, then it’s like a sweet-smelling offering rising up to God, and He’s breathing it in. In heaven, God may be sniffing and commenting, “Now her life has a satisfying fragrance,” or “Smell his life!”  I SMELL!!  We smell. We are a stench in God’s nostrils. In order to be a fragrant aroma, you have to live a life of purity.

The opposite of purity is perversion. 

Paul describes perversion this way: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Ephesians 5:3).

First, Paul mentions immorality, from the Greek word porneia, from which we get our word pornography. This word encompasses all forms of sexual sin. This is perversion.

Second, impurity. Jesus used this word to describe decaying bodies in a tomb. It paints an ugly picture of an impure, dirty, decaying, foul life. Another brand of perversion.

Third, covetousness, or greed. What is that doing on the list? I never think I'm guilty of either of these, but that's a lie. But herein lies the rub for me. Think of it this way. In the filing system of sin, the first two words, immorality and impurity, are specific folders in the drawer of sexual sin. The whole filing cabinet is covetousness or greed. It’s a big, summary term, and all the sin in that cabinet is rooted in covetousness—wanting what I want, not caring what God says, because I come first, and I will have what I want. Yet again, perversion.

Notice that Paul says those three things—immorality, impurity, and covetousness—must not even be named among us. Not much squirming room in that! Zero tolerance, don’t mess with it, not appropriate for the children of God.

Then Paul broadens the scope from physical, sexual sin to verbal, sexual sin. “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4). Filthiness refers to general obscenity, any talk that sexually degrades someone. Foolish talk literally means moron words—not playful teasing but nasty mouth or silly, base, perverse filler words. Crude joking turns any comment, no matter how innocent, into something obscene or suggestive. This sexual innuendo is “out of place” in the family of God.

All of this is perversion, the opposite of purity, and it stinks in God’s nostrils. Why is God so concerned about a little bit of impurity? Because at the root of all these sins is something sinister: idolatry. 

“For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5, emphasis added).

There’s the rub. 

At the root of these patterns, at the root of a life consumed with sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, and filthy talk, is idolatry. In that life, God isn’t the object of worship. Who’s worshiped?  -Self. The unstated mantra is “I’m the one I worship, I’m most important, what I want comes first.” And if that’s the pattern of my life, then I have an idol problem! 

God’s never been casual about idolatry. The second commandment is “NO IDOLS” (Exodus 20:4–6). And the insidious idols for me and some of my close friends are not the cultural idols of our day, they aren’t statues but self. Gratifying self instead of pleasing God. And God’s verdict on my life when I am not fully surrendered to Him? It stinks! 

I am taking a nice long shower in repentance with the soap of grace, and drying off with the word, so when I come before Him, He will inhale deeply and be pleased. And I will be whole again. 

Faithful Father worthy of all my devotion and affection, I find this passage deeply convicting. Forgive me for the perversion in my life, whether overt or subtle. Your Word has authority in my life. I don’t care what others say or think; I want to be a holy person whose life has a pleasing smell to You. Thank You for calling me Your precious love and for giving me a pattern of purity for my life: Jesus, in whose name I pray for grace to change and for steadfastness. Amen. 

This is just an empty cup, I don't want what I want anymore. 

Robbs

ABIDE?! THE TRUE TEST

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31, ESV).

You probably can’t remember the last time you used the word abide in a conversation. Most of us don’t tell our roommates, “If you abide in my house, you live by my rules!” We don’t usually say to our BFF's, “I’m glad we’ve abided together all these years!”

But abide is a time-honored word I like because it makes me stop and think. I’m also drawn to it because Jesus used this word on some significant occasions with His followers. In fact, Jesus said abiding is the test of whether or not we are truly His disciples.

The word abide can be translated “to live within,” “to dwell,” or “to take up residence.” Jesus was basically saying, “If you live my Word,” or, “If your life is a genuine reflection of what I say, you are truly My disciples.” This means that our conversations, interactions, and meditations ought to be permeated with Scripture. We should live so much in God’s Word that it fills us up and overflows constantly from our lips and actions. The beginning of knowing what God wants you to do is knowing what God wants you to know!

Conversely, if we’re not abiding in Jesus’ words—if we’re not basing everything we believe on the book God wrote—we can’t expect to know the truth or experience His freedom. And we can’t honestly claim to be His disciples. When Jesus spoke of the importance of abiding “to the Jews who had believed in him,” He made it clear that recognizing who He is isn’t quite the same thing as surrendering to Him and living for Him.

Abiding in Jesus’ words involves more than saying we believe certain things about Him and about the Bible. It’s about how our lives represent His life and His words. At the practical level, it’s about becoming increasingly familiar with God’s Word over the course of a lifetime. And it’s also about our lives becoming a more and more authentic reflection of the Author.

Abiding means His words are persistently changing us. We’re discovering through practice what David described when he said, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). He knew how to abide.

There’s a lot about your life today that will be mundane and ordinary: driving, working, talking, shopping, listening, and a thousand other things. They can all be done without thinking about God and His glory. But they can also be done while abiding in Jesus’ words, letting His presence and instruction guide your life. The choice you make is an indicator of whether or not you are really one of His disciples.

My personal Integrity Check questions: •During a typical day, when do you most sense that you are abiding in Jesus’ words? 

•When is abiding hardest?

•What about today’s schedule needs to change in order for you to practice abiding in Jesus’ words?

Pray for me and\or with me: 

Lord, it’s painfully obvious to me how easily I go about my daily routine without thinking of You. I don’t want to live that way. I want to walk with You and abide in Your words. I want my life to be a disciple’s life. Yet it’s so easy to get sidetracked with my failures rather than rest in the truth that You want to abide in me and live Your life through mine. Please help me sense today that You long to abide in me so I can abide in Your words. And help me hate evil.  In Jesus’ name and for His glory, I pray, amen. 

The best part of waking up is Jesus and a cup! 

Robbs

"COME."

Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up” (Hosea 6:1, ESV).

About few years ago I lost sight of my greatest joy and pleasure. [My blog entries tell the story well]. It took a horrible dream at 2am on June 1 2016, to realize the true source of my heartache. 

If you've lost sight of the Lover of your Soul..... like me, God invites you to come back to Him. No matter how far away you’ve wandered or how long you’ve been gone, Hosea 6:1 opens the door: “Come, let us return to the LORD.” That’s the invitation to reviving your heart and soul. 

I love God's voice. 

“Come.” This is a tender-hearted pleading. You don’t have to stay where you are. You don’t have to live the life you’re living. You don’t have to experience the sorrow and heartache you’re feeling. You can return to the Lord. It’s not too late. Return! God is waiting now with open arms. Return to Him!

Doubt can become faith. Discouragement can become joy. Despair can become purpose and fulfillment. Defeat can become victory. How can that happen?

When you return.

The Hebrew term translated return is used more than one thousand times in the Old Testament—more frequently than almost any other term describing what God desires for us. Hosea uses the term twenty-three times. In fact, the entire book of Hosea assures us that good things await those who return to the Lord. [I cannot resist smiling right here! 😇] 

Returning is a picture of repentance and a decision made at a *point in time. Imagine a smoke alarm suddenly going off. You have an instant choice to make: remain where you are or move away from the danger. You may be slow to respond or simply ignore the alarm, hoping it will reset. Perhaps that’s the danger.

In the same way spiritually, when you hear the alarm, how do you respond? Have you grown deaf to God’s call? When God has spoken, have you simply ignored Him? Do you hear His voice today, beckoning, “Come, return”? 

Turning to God means . . .

1. Recognizing. The first part of turning is recognizing that behaviors rigorously rationalized are the real issues in your heart. What has to go? As you let God shine His light on your activities and inner thoughts, you’ll realize, “This is wrong or harmful to me and to those I love. I recognize this for what it is: sin. That used to be attractive, but it repulses me now.” Sin is a barrier to returning, and we have to open our eyes and see clearly.

2. Repenting. When you see what got you where you are, you don’t want it anymore. You’re ready to be honest with yourself and with God. “I’m wrong, God. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I have no excuse for my choices. I’m unworthy, I’m undeserving, but I’m returning.” There is no downpour of mercy without returning, and there is no returning without repentance.

3. Re-turning. If you want to experience the downpour, then you have to come back. This is not just an emotional response or flippant change of mind; it’s also an exertion of your will to get moving again in the right direction. It’s a choice: “I’m leaving this sin behind. I don’t want this anymore. I’m not hanging around that temptation—I’m shutting it off and moving away. I’m returning to the Lord. I want what God has for me—first, most, and best.”

Think of returning to the Lord as discovering a destructive weed in the garden of your heart. First, you recognize it: “Hey, that’s a weed! Get it out of my garden.” Second, you pull it up by the roots—that’s repenting, demonstrating that you are really done with that weed. Third, you dispose of the weed so it can’t sink its roots into your garden again. That’s putting serious distance between the sin and your life.

Today do you hear the call: “Come, let us return to the LORD”? Don’t delay. Don’t try to fix yourself or sort things out before you return. You don’t have to be clean in order to get right with God. He makes you clean! He doesn’t need you to fix yourself (as if you even could). 

He wants my heart and His to be as close as possible as soon as possible.

Come. 

He wants yours too. 

Lover of our Souls, this invitation in Hosea 6:1 says so much about You. You love me. You want me to come home. You want what’s best for me. You’re waiting for me with open arms. Thank You for being “the LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). Today when I hear Your voice, I do not want to harden my heart. No more delays, no more wandering. I’m coming home. I choose today to recognize my sin for what it is, to repent of it, and to return to You. In the name of Jesus, who paid the price for my sin, amen.

This cup is Caffeine Free!!! And on the house! I'm back. 

Robbs 

QUESTIONS JESUS NEVER ASKED

How is your walk with God? 

It's a question that wraps around you like a blood pressure cuff, and the way you answer it says something about your success or failure. 

If I answered "It Sucks! Then it stands to reason that I'm doing something wrong. 

Are you reading enough? Are you remembering God IS Good? Are you praying? What about attending church services? 

Ask me about my walk with God these days, and I mostly hem and haw. I don’t know what to tell you about the state of my faith, which seems to ebb and flow with the seasons and the hours and the moments of my daily life.

While I recognize the importance of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and quiet and Scripture reading, I no longer believe that they correlate directly to that vibrant, heady spirituality that I used to frame as “success.”

I’m not even sure that “walk” is the truest metaphor for my particular spiritual journey. So many days it doesn’t feel like I’m moving anywhere – forward or backward. Rather I’m just here, still – waiting for something like faith to grow inside of me.

It seems truer to talk about my faith life as a tree – so dependent on the soil and the weather and the rain and the sun. Dormant during long stretches of the year, but reaching ever toward a hope I cannot fully understand. My faith is not a movement – a walking toward. The growth is so slow and quiet that you’d never even notice that it’s happening.

Out of curiosity this week, I Googled questions that Jesus asked. I wanted to know if this How’s your walk with God question had any biblical grounding, and so I read through several lists compiled by pastors and bloggers and theologians.

(Here's the list I love to read: The Questions of Christ) 

Reading through Jesus’ questions, so odd and beautiful, so simple and complex, I was arrested by him all over again. I found myself in quiet awe of Jesus who asks:

Who are you looking for? (John 20:15)

Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:13-15)

“Why are you so afraid?” (Matthew 8:26)

"Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25) 

"Why are you sleeping?" (Luke 22:46) 

This is the Jesus who doesn’t, in the end, ask How’s you’re walk with God? Nor does he ask How’s your prayer life? Are you doing your devotions? Are you in the Word? Are you plugged in to a church?

In fact, none of his questions seem posed to assess the spiritual "performance" of the people he’s talking to. Instead, they reach deeper, toward desire and identity.

His questions reach into the hidden places, the unwell places, the broken places – not to suggest that we get it together, but to show us that HE is holding it together for us.

He is asking: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32-22)

He is asking “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6)

We need Jesus' questions to remind us it’s not our job to fix ourselves. Our work, despite the mixed messages from our DIY culture, is not to give one another spiritual health assessments and then offer 10 steps toward better faith.

Rather, our work has to do with making space for Christ, with making space for healing after we have suffered, with offering grace and mercy, kindness and love.

Ask better questions, sweet pea. Ask them to yourself. Ask them to one another. Ask the questions Jesus asked. Ask that which you cannot answer and then be quiet........

Wait for the whispering of God’s love to fill in all the gaps.......

He always answers. 

"Who do you say that I am?" 

This is an Iced double shot espresso. 

Robbs