Drop One Hundred Fifty-One

2 Corinthians 13:5 - 7

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved. For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth” (NASB1995).

“Didn’t you smell that?” he asked. Then he shared that there was meat that had spoiled in the refrigerator. That was a couple of days ago. Then I did smell something that wasn’t quite right. I mentioned that now I smell it. Before my first morning cup of coffee, I emptied the refrigerator, filled the bathtub with hot water, vinegar and dish soap and placed all removeable parts of the refrigerator into the bathtub. I completely cleaned the refrigerator. Before placing anything back into the refrigerator, I had the same mixture in the kitchen sink to wipe down each item. Expired items were placed in the trash. Then I found it. Chicken and noodles from a couple weeks ago. That was the source of the smell. I pitched the contents of the bowl and washed the bowl and lid. There was no need to pitch the container, only the contents. Too often in our culture instead of discarding the bad and keeping the good, all of it is pitched. All of it is considered to have no value. Sometimes we discard relationships rather than redeeming them. I heard Pastor Colin Smith point out the sin of being lazy at love. Maintaining bitter distances takes away the opportunities for building better relationships.

Father God,

Only You are Holy, perfect and righteous. You created this world and all that is within it – including each one of us. You desire to be in communion with us, yet, You hate sin. Jesus paid the price so that You see His righteousness covering our sinfulness. Thank You for loving us so much. Thank You for choosing to cleanse us from the inside out. We may look and sound the same, but we are being transformed by You. Help us to do the work needed to love each other well – as You love us.

In the name of Jesus we pray,

AMEN