Saturday, July 18, 2015

Does your chewing gum lose it's flavor

There are moments in my life where I could honestly say that I am madly in love with God and there have been plenty of moments that I will admit that I halfheartedly loved Him.

Have you ever heard the song, "does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost over night."? For some  strange reason I couldn't seem to get it out of my head after reading chapter four of "Crazy Love".  I know silly right.  But maybe not.

We often try to rekindle or add flavor back into our relationship with our Beloved Creator.  We go to church on Sunday and chew on His word for an hour.  Only to fall right back into our lukewarm lives throughout the remainder of the week.  It's just like putting our chewing gum on the bedpost overnight in hopes of getting a little extra boost flavor.  As a kid I would put my gum on a the table next to the bed or my head board.  I know gross.  But wait, the crazy thing is it seemed to be a little more flavorful in the morning.  Maybe it was my imagination.  But my taste bud would beg to differ.  Eventually that piece of cherished gum became a flavorless glob.  And the glob got wrapped in a unwanted scrap of paper and tossed in the garbage.  In Matthew 5:13 Jesus told us to be salt and be light.  We are to be full of flavor. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."  When we live our lives with a lukewarm faith we aren't capable of seasoning much of anything.  And the longer we stay in this lukewarm state the more likely we are of becoming a flavorless glob.


Remember the moment you realized the overwhelming love God had for you. And you seemed to be floating on air.  Eager to seek Him and hear His word. Daily reading scripture, you listened to Christian radio, perhaps you cleaned up your vocabulary a bit.  Now think about a fresh piece of gum.  That sick of gum so full of flavor It's just bursting with deliciousness. You begin to chew.  And the flavor is strong. And you truly enjoy the taste.   The longer you chew it to more it loses its deliciousness.  When we need more flavor we pop a fresh piece of gum in our mouth and ahhhh the flavor is strong once again.  Just like a new stick of gum we need to get a fresh fill and rekindle our love for God daily.  God gives us grace each day.  A fresh piece to chew on each day.  His grace is sufficient and never runs out.  It's our faith and love for Him that becomes flavorless. 



What are the things that we desire more than our desire to seek a loving relationship with God? As I said earlier I am capable of admitting that I have had plenty of moments where I halfheartedly loved God. I often spend more time seeking the love of friends, family and things.  My faith becomes cloudy and lacking.  God seems to be taken for granted because I know He is there.  Imagine if we had that same kind of halfhearted love for our spouse, children, family and friends.  Not sure about you but, I am pretty sure that if I was being neglected the way I neglect God, I would start looking for love somewhere else.  Funny how being loved is such an important part of our existence.  We go to great lengths to find it.  God's love for us is amazing.  There is no greater love.  And silly us we take it for granted. He is right there!!!



There are a multitude of scripture verses on being lukewarm.  And if you read chapter 4 you saw a few of them (I put a bunch of them below for you to chew on).  For me Isaiah 29:13 resounds in my head and heart.  "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths.  And honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me it taught by the commandment of men"  Our love for God has to be full of substance.  He doesn't want our lip service.  He knows our heart and desires us to wholeheartedly love and seek Him.  And that His law is on our hearts because we seek Him and desire to know Him.  



This week I will be praying that we spend time in prayer.  I pray that we seek His mighty hand as we work on becoming less lukewarm and more flavorful in our love for Him.  I pray that the Holy Spirit is upon us and will help us overcome our lack of love for our Relentless God,  I also pray that we graciously come before Him and ask Him to work in our hearts to increase our desire for Him.  



Lukewarm

Isaiah 29:13
13 Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths. And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

Isaiah 58:6-7
6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Matthew 5:43-47
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Matthew 10:32-33 
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 21: 28-31  
28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you

Matthew 22:37-38
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 23:5-7
5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

Matthew 23:25-28
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.


Luke 9:57-62
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 12:16-21
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink,and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 14:12-1
12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, themaimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Luke 14:31-33
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.



Luke 21:1-4
21 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

Romans 6:1-2
6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?


1 Timothy 6:17-18
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,

James 1:22
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 4:17
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Revelation 3:1
3 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

No comments:

Post a Comment