What Do You Smell?

de·o·dor·ant noun:  an agent for destroying odors.

an·ti·per·spi·rant noun:  an astringent preparation for reducing perspiration, usually containing aluminum or zirconium and used to prevent body odor and clothing stains.

per·fume noun:  a substance, extract, or preparation for diffusing or imparting an agreeable or attractive smell, especially a fluid containing fragrant natural oils extracted from flowers, woods, etc., or similar synthetic oils.

I am just going to assume that everyone who reads my blog uses one of the three items listed above, hopefully daily.  I mean, let’s be honest here, we don’t want to smell bad, do we?  It would be bad enough if we had to smell ourselves, but it could be quite embarrassing if others smelled us at our worst, right? 

But today I’m going to look at these items another way, from a more Christian point of view.  If you were to look at these items with that Christian perspective you might see deodorant to be the Bible.  It’s there to destroy the horrible odors of darkness from invading your life and making you smell bad to others, right?  Yet, not everyone uses deodorant and therefore allows odors to consume them, so to say. 

Then you have antiperspirant.  It is like prayer, in my opinion.  It’s there to keep you from having things come onto your body and make you smell, right?  And yet once again this is something that not enough people use.  Instead they start to smell badly for all the world to notice when they come upon them 

Oh, and what happens when you use the deodorant and the antiperspirant together?  You get added protection right?  When both are used together you get to keep the odors from attacking the body, and if the odors get past that layer of defense the deodorant will destroy them.  That is just like how prayer and the Bible work together, isn’t it?  Through prayer we are able to fight off the enemy's attacks.   Prayer in conjunction with our Bible knowledge can easily allow us to destroy the enemy before he makes a foothold on the body.

That leaves the perfume.  If you ask me it’s more of a cover up. cover-up It tells others that you may or may not smell bad due to the bodily odor, but they’ll not be finding out because we’re going to disguise those issues, if they are even present.  To me that is what a lot of Christians do.  Instead of using prayer and the knowledge that the Bible could give them, they instead make themselves smell good to the world so that even their closest friends won’t know what is really going on in their lives.

This week I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t use actual perfume, or that you are a bad person for only using actual deodorant, or antiperspirant.  Instead I wanted to take a different approach to show you exactly how integral some of the things we take for granted in our lives really are to having a strong Christian walk.  It’s easy to forget our Bible reading or prayer any day if it isn’t routine.  But, when we do forget either or both of them then we open ourselves up to an attack.  So, just like odor can attack when you forget to use deodorant and/or antiperspirant you are easily accessible to the enemy's advances when you forget to do even the most routine of things. 

In other words, don’t forget the simplest of things:  Be in your Bible daily, and spend time with God.  You just might make the world a more pleasingly fragrant place.

Be Proud

Anyone who has been to Norwalk Alliance Church in first service when my family is there knows one thing for sure.  My daughter Abby is extremely proud when she gets to participate in the service.  Every week for years now during the announcements the person leading them will say, “We're the Norwalk Alliance Church and we’re…”, and this is where the congregation responds:  “Living the Call together.”  Abby loves to make sure she’s heard during this and does so without a second thought.

The other week when she did this and the congregation was once again amused by her boldness, it had me thinking.  Here Abby is, showing not only how proud she is to know the response, but she also has an idea of what it actually means to live the call together.  She’s willing to put herself out there in front of everyone and has no qualms about it. 

What if the rest of us Christians were as equally bold out in the world every day?  What if we were not afraid to let everyone know that we lived our lives for Christ and wanted to share them with others?  What if we stopped worrying about what everyone else around us thought and instead just lived our lives for Him?

It’s something to think about, isn’t it?  I’m not saying I’m perfect, as I’m just as far from this as everyone else.  Yet, what a goal that would be, to be so proud of living my life for Christ that I made sure everyone else knew where I stand.  Not just by a bumper sticker I have on the car, a sign in the yard, or a t-shirt that I wear .  Instead, you could just see me and know where I stand, and who I stand for!  If only we could all be so proud.

Touching Lives

Have you ever gone back and reflected on just how much someone meant to you.  I’m sure that the majority of us have done that when someone passes or leaves our lives in one way or another.  I was forced to do that over a week ago when my Uncle Jim passed unexpectedly. 

Through the years as I’ve grown older I haven’t had as much contact with my Uncle Jim.  When I was a child, though, my family spent a good amount of time with my aunt and uncle and my cousins whenever we could arrange a time to do so.  I remember many times going down to their house in the Cincinnati area and spending time playing sports with my cousins.  But when he passed, I started to see Uncle Jim’s part in those times as well. 

I specifically remember one time throwing a football in the yard, though I honestly can’t remember who I was throwing the ball with.  I remember Uncle Jim coming home (probably from golfing!) and watching how I was throwing the ball.  He came up to me and asked me if I’d like to learn how to throw the ball correctly.  He then showed me the importance of the laces and how they helped me control the ball as it was thrown to the receiver.  In five minutes I went from throwing a wobbly duck in the air to a semi-crisp spiral.  I remember him encouraging me and then going into the house as it was obvious that I now had an understanding of the instruction and could advance from there on my own.

Now this might be a small blip on the whole of my life, but it really meant something to me.  He spent the time to fix something I was doing and to make me better at that one particular thing.  Since that day I’ve been able to throw a football well (although not always accurately!),and I will always credit him for teaching me that skill.

I mention this time in my life for two reasons.  Obviously the first is to honor a great man who was a part of my life.  The other is to use him as an example of what God calls all of us to do in this world.  We’re called to go out and touch other people’s lives for God.  God has all of His believers out here in the world touching people in big and small ways each and every day.  Maybe I only teach someone to look to God for answers, while someone else is touching that same person in building their walk with God, and another person is teaching them how to pray.  We all have a part, and each and every one of those parts is important.

My Uncle Jim understood that and knew that the little things he showed me at times would make me a better person for God.  He understood that, although he didn’t have a lot of time to spend with me, the time he did have was precious.  He did his part and is one of the many people in this world who have made me the person I am today.  God asks that each and every one of us keep touching the lives of those around us and that together we build up His kingdom.

My question for you today is this:  Whose lives are you touching?

Recycling

Raise your hand if you have a blue bin of some shape or size and regularly put stuff in it in order to recycle.  Yeah, I have my hand up too.  We do this because it’s better for the environment and hopefully will allow our children and their children to have a better world to live in, right?

So if so many of us are willing to do that with paper and plastic, why aren't we all willing to do the exact same kind of thing with all of the knowledge that God has given us?  There are many times when people will talk about this big huge thing that God did in their life right after it happens, but why isn't that message being recycled over and over again for others?  Obviously we’d do this for the same reason we recycle the paper and plastic stuff, right? We want a better world for our kids and their kids, right?  Isn't having God in more people’s lives a worthy cause?  If so, then we need to recycle the knowledge He’s given us by sharing it with others as well.

I’d encourage you today to start, or increase, your recycling of what God is doing and what He has done in your life.  God doesn't give us experiences for just our benefit.  He knows that we can touch others with our stories of His love.  He knows that those people who are touched can share as well, and His love can just grow over and over again.  So, go out and recycle to help the world!