Don't Smell Like Feet

"It's not possible to be His, connected to Him, and be stagnant."

CHURCH HAS made a culture of what is supposed to be a body. A body is united. All of its members are connected and seen as a whole only when they are together. Minister Joyce Meyer used to do a funny skit where her eye wanted to wear the ring which was supposed to be on her finger. The apostle Paul made this analogy, saying the hand cannot refuse to foot a right to be on the body, nor the outward parts claim more priority than the inward ones.

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12)

I could state it this way. Those called into the pulpit cannot claim to be more focused on God than those that hear them speak. Nor does God speak clearer to one of His children over another, except when they aren't listening. The reason we do not hear is not laid on God but on us. Those who are commissioned apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, are, in fact, called into servanthood, to wash feet as our beloved Savior does still. It is His blood that cleanses the heart and the soul. They are His wounds which make us whole.

We are made perfect through His love (1 John 4:18). This means that all we are, how we think, how we react, what actions we take, are His and not ours.

To do what our emotions, our mind, and our body demands is to ignore God. He made us emotional. Love is itself an emotion, as are other fruits of the Spirit, or we can say they are outgrowths of His power, His character, in us. Because He is life, eternal and everlasting, neverending life, we will produce fruit. It is not possible to be His, connected to Him, and be stagnant. Nor can we ever be alone. Didn't He say He would never leave us or forsake us? It is a misapplication of holiness that frequently keeps us as His children from the intimacy that He desires.

It was this false reverence which caused the religious leaders of Jesus' day to think causing His death by any means protected God’s temple. They saw Jesus' silence at their mockery as weakness. No, it was for their sake He died. And it is for the sake of others, to do for them what Jesus died to provide, that we do any work in the church. Otherwise, we step outside of the work of God’s nature within us and become those dressed for church who smell like the world.

A precious man of God, Nate Johnston, wrote a word from the Spirit which speaks to me words I've passed on to you and deeper things which I have not. In it he said so many in the church are holding plastic keys which look like those given to God’s church as authority. So much is misunderstood of what Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit have authorized us to do. We, God’s children, are good at play-acting, and fail to see the value of patience in our pursuit of godliness. We're eager to speak out against negative culture and sin but are reluctant to be kind.

Why do you think Jesus didn't rail against those who were so willing to put Him to death? Read through the gospels and you will find many instances where He faced their hate. Yet, on the road to Golgotha, He was silent because argument was not necessary. He did not come to earth to be born as a man in order to argue us into submission. But we try to do this with the unsaved, with our brothers and sisters in God across denominational lines and in the next pew all the time.

Our sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God is not meant to be used on each other. We do not fight flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). And our keys of authority are words spoken by the Spirit through us when we are aware of Him. Instead of what we want to say in hate. EVEN IF they are directed at the devil. To follow the leading of our heavenly Father requires us to lay who we are at His feet, to submit our will to His. This does not mean we will have to change our personality or what we desire. I remembered when the Spirit said I was not required to be talkative nor expressive like other people. He likes me as I am. And He likes you as you are. But we will only walk after Him and see Jesus manifested in our daily life when we allow God to direct us.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

When we find ourselves consumed by love for those we disagree with and are willing, like Paul, to change all of who we are even if other people notice and shake their heads. These are his words. "I wasted the church," he says in one location, and, "If you will love others like you've seen me do, then God’s peace will be with you," he says later. The love of people fills his letters to the churches, including to the Roman guards in the prisons where he was held.

Let this love be seen in me. Let it be seen in the church, so that those who see us, who hear us, find peace and see Jesus. He cherishes every drop of blood He spilt for the world. Would that we did, too.

1 Corinthians 12:14-26, Remedy
“The body is a cohesive unit constructed of many parts, and all the parts play a vital role. (15) What if the foot said, ‘I am not a hand and never get to wave, touch things or write, therefore I don’t even belong to the body;’ would that make it so? (16) What if the ear said, ‘I am not the eye and I never get to look at things or read, therefore I’m not part of the body;’ would the ear suddenly disappear from the head? (17) Or what if the entire body were just an eye? It would be grotesque, and where would hearing be? And for that matter, how would the eye move, or even survive, without a heart and lungs to give it blood and oxygen? And if the entire body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? (18) God has built the body with all its parts right where he wanted them, all perfectly complementing each other and fulfilling their purposes for the good of the entire body. (19) If they were all the same part, it would cease to be a body. (20) But as it is, there are many parts perfectly united in one magnificent body. (21) The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ for the hand wipes the tears from the eye. And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ for the feet take the head where it wants to go. (22) Every part is indispensable. The parts that seem to be weaker are essential, (23) and the parts we consider less honorable, like the feet, we treat with special honor by providing shoes specialized for all occasions. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special care and attention, (24) while the parts we present publicly don’t need any special treatment. God has designed the body, creating a perfect organism where all the various parts are united in serving each other, where each part is honored to fulfill its appointed purpose for the good of all. (25) No disunity or competition exists in the body, but all the parts are equally concerned for the health of the others. (26) If one part of the body is in pain, the other parts suffer with it; if one part is healthy and honored, the others rejoice with it and are blessed by it.”

Image by Kaskar 537 from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com