Hang with me through this post. I promise it has a positive ending. There are all kinds of smells all around us every day. I would say most of those smells are good. But Carmen and I walked out in the yard of our Chateau Mariposa the other day, and there was the smell of death. You know, that dead animal smell! The smell of death.
Death
Definition: (noun) – a permanent cessation of all vital functions: the end of life
Yes, the end of life is one of the unavoidable events of our life. As they say, death and taxes. At some point, life must come to an end. The Bible confirms that:
Hebrews 9:27 MSG
Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences.
Causes of Death
Wow, in one source I counted approximately 250 possible causes of death (The Royal College of Pathologists – June 2020). And even with that, they had “injury” listed as one. Do you know how many various kinds of injuries could kill someone? A lot!
You may have seen the Meme below on social media. It gave me a good laugh. This tells you my age as this is the way my age group saw it as a kid:
A Different Death
I am going to share with you another type of death. Spiritual Death. What does that mean?
It means to be eternally (forever) separated from God.
In layman’s terms, it means ‘not going to heaven’ after one dies. Sin separates us from God. God is perfect and so is heaven, so sin is not allowed in His presence nor in heaven.
Good News
The good news is this: Jesus took our sins upon Himself, on our behalf. He nailed them to the cross. He shed His blood over our sins. The shedding of blood puts us in ‘right standing’ with God. The Father now sees us through Jesus, our intermediator.
No, it doesn’t make us perfect or sinless. We are still going to mess up. There will be trials and temptations as (the book of) James puts it. But now the Father sees us through the perfect image of His son Jesus.
Now, our spirit-man (our inner man of the heart), which was dead due to sin, is now alive because of Jesus Christ!
Ephesians 1:7 AMP
In Him we have redemption [that is, our deliverance and salvation] through His blood, [which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in] the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin, in accordance with the riches of His grace
Life
Bring life to where death dwells. You might not always smell it. But you can see, feel and sense death. I would venture to say, because I was there one time myself, that many Christians smell like death.
What I mean by that is, many have been defeated in life for so long, they’ve lost their way.
But we can pray people across the paths of others that can speak life into those who are on a deadly path. There were those who prayed people across my path. They spoke the life-changing Word of Jesus Christ into my life.
Even better, we can be that person that comes across ‘the walking dead’ person’s path. Maybe we are the answer to that prayer for someone.
So don’t walk through life smelling like death. And don’t let others walk through life smelling like death without letting them know that they can live!
Challenge of the Week
If you are living then you don’t smell like death. So LIVE! Live life and speak life. Allow Jesus, in your everyday walking-around-kind-of-life, to be life to you and to bring life through you. Who’s path will you cross this week? Speak life into them. So be it.
Check out Chateau Mariposa – it’s a place to breathe life. Click here: https://airbnb.com/h/chateaumariposa
