06/27/2019
God wants to walk among us, to be our God, and for us to be His people, but are we making ourselves presentable to Him? Have we become so involved with modern day idols like money, fame, riches, power, sex, or some other powerful influence over our lives that we have placed God second, third, or maybe way down the chain of importance in our lives? God wants to be first in our lives but dies the smell of our sin repulse Him?
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV9
When I was a young boy in Germany, we boys would go to the local market and buy a small box that contained 4 or 5 tiny glass vials of yellow liquid. They were supposed to be a practical joke, and we called them stink-bombs. In truth they were horrible and once broken they would fill a room with an odor that was so repulsive that it would make you gag. One day a friend of mine gave me two of these vials. I threw one outside and laughed at how repulsive the odor was. I then carefully stored the other in my bedroom for safe keeping.
Well, my younger brother had seen where I put it, and after I had left the house he took the small vial, slipped into the bathroom that was adjacent to the kitchen, closing the door behind him, and threw it into the porcelain toilet where it broke and emitted its incredibly potent odor. He ran from the bathroom, but the smell permeated every nook and cranny of the small duplex we lived in. Needless to say my mother came running, and upon finding the broken vial in the toilet, she quizzed my brother until at last he confessed.
I came home a little later and began smelling the distinctive rotten egg smell of stink-bomb long before I reached the front door. When I entered the house I could hear my brother gagging in the bathroom where as punishment he was made to stay, with the door closed, and clean up the toilet. The rest of the family found things to do outside until, at long last, we were able to renter the house safely. The intense odor of a stink-bomb had made it impossible for us to stay inside, just like our sins make it impossible for God to tolerate us in His presence, and there is no sin more repulsive to God than for us to place an idol before Him.
“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.”
Psalms 5:4-5 ESV
When we take up residence with sin then we make it impossible for God to walk with us. Even though He loves us, we have made the relationship distasteful to Him by the repulsive nature of the sin we tolerate... or even participate in. To remove that sin we must wash ourselves clean...
“Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.”
John 9:6-7 ESV
Yet, before we wash ourselves we must repent, and pray for forgiveness...
“Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God. How can you say, 'I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done— a restless young camel running here and there,”
Jeremiah 2:22-23 ESV
Sin has a powerful odor; one that is repulsive to God, and should cause us to gag as we go about cleaning it up. There is no sin that doesn’t carry with it the smell of death, and Jesus is the only cleanser that can purify us.
“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ESV
So today let’s ask ourselves how we smell. Let’s make certain that we have truly cleansed ourselves through our faith in Jesus Christ, and not just attempted to cover the smell of our sin with the perfume, or deodorant, of works alone. Let’s rid ourselves of idols, and other sins. We do this by first asking ourselves how we really smell today. Are you like a fragrant flower as you walk with God, or like a walking stink-bomb that gags Him?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who washes me clean of my sin with His redeeming blood. I thank you for hearing my prayers of contrition, even as I gag on the sin that surrounds me. You lift me from these sins by your mercy, grace, and the forgiveness that only the precious sacrifice of Jesus has made possible. Cleanse me Father, destroy my tainted garments of sin, and dress me anew in righteous white robes of purity. Walk with me Holy Father, and let nothing I say or do be disappointing to you, or repulse you in any way. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who sent your only begotten Son, that I might be redeemed, cleansed, and made acceptable to you. Great is your mercy and grace that reached out to me in the midst of my sin, and plucked me from it. Glorious are you my Lord, for my righteousness is made perfect by the blood of your Son that washes over me as He becomes sin for me, and defeats its death. Praised be your name, and fragrant the incense of your altar that stands at your right hand. You are my one true God now, and forevermore... Call out my name... Call me your Child.
Rich Forbes