Stench

I've made myself available to those who haven't bothered to ask. I'm here, ready to be found by those who haven't bothered to look. I kept saying "I'm here, I'm right here" to a nation that ignored me. I reached out day after day to a people who turned their backs on me, people who make wrong turns, who insist on doing things their own way. They get on my nerves, are rude to my face day after day, make up their own kitchen religion, a potluck religious stew. They spend the night in tombs to get messages from the dead, eat forbidden foods and drink a witch's brew of potions and charms. They say, "Keep your distance. Don't touch me. I'm holier than thou.' These people gag me. I can't stand their stench.
isaiah 65:1-5

often it's difficult to see the Truth hidden within an event. this afternoon some adults were hanging out in the kitchen at our church and someone notice a rancid smell. some food had been left in one of the warmers for far too long. it made all of those present in the room gag when we discovered the culprit. it was so disgusting. there was some serious 'stench' going on!

so what's to be learned? i'm still trying to sort out my thots. i think of Mother Teresa and her example to the children living in the sewers of India. i think of these verses about how our actions can cause Jesus to gag - we become a stench in His nostrils. i think of Jesus and how he had to clean out the evil from within the temple/church. i think of how terrible the smell must have been when the romans raided Jerusalem, killing most of the Jews and piling their bodies in open pits. or when the raids in Rwanda thru genocide - wars in general. how must stench would all that killing cause? and personally i think of what my actions must smell like to Jesus. am i an aroma or stench? is what i do pleasing or appalling? am i a servant - or am i self-serving? oh so many questions from one experience which caused my nose hairs to cringe.

Jesus, cleanser of my soul, come and make me whole. i don't want to make you gag or be a rancid smell in Your nostrils. i desire to be an aroma which is pleasing to You and those around me. i want to serve. and if serving means cleaning trays with maggots, then so be it. i want to be faithful in the small things. You are my hope and salvation - i am stench without Your robe of righteousness encompassing me. i love wearing your as my garment. i praise You for this experience to realize how i trule desire to please You. and i praise You for cleansing my soul -for making me whole - for warm water to wash away the muck and grime - the filth which leads to sin.
in Jesus' Name - Amen.