Before we moved, Maggie was in dance at a sweet little studio that only had about 4 parking spaces for about 300 girls on any given day. The place was located in an alley behind restaurants, art shops, etc., so I normally ended up positioned right up against a dumpster while I waited for her to come out of class. The dumpster definitely belonged to a restaurant. There is a distinct odor that is unmistakable when it comes to restaurant dumpsters, and if you've ever passed one in the summer, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The aroma will all but knock you off your feet. It's the smell of good food gone bad.
We have been in so many church environments in our marriage and ministry, and we've been able to observe so much. The majority of what we've seen has been encouraging and fruitful, but we have been in some places where it seems like people are all too comfortable, filling pews and getting fat on good teaching. There is a lingering "odor" that reminds me a bit of a restaurant dumpster. Now, when I say this, I'm not referring to the actual smell of churches or people, but I'm remembering the funky atmosphere that lingers around Christians who are constantly feeding themselves but never exercising their faith. If we, in the natural, sat around all day shoveling good food into our gullets and never got up and walked around or interacted with others, can you imagine the grotesque appearance we'd take on? I think of the super large and very sad and sickly people about whom revealing documentaries are made. You know the ones...the World's Largest Woman...the World's Largest Man. We feel so sorry for these people because the quality of their lives is all but gone, and they can't enjoy their families. They have no friends. It's a very sad existence.
What if, like those sad people, we are becoming this way spiritually? What if we are feeding on good teaching and ministry with a "give me, give me, give me" kind of attitude that is causing us to be grotesque instead of sleek in our faith? I am asking God to open my eyes to the people around me. If there is a person in the grocery store who looks like they need an ear, I should give it. If someone needs help with something, I should do it. I need to get out of my bubble and notice the people around me. God does nothing by accident; instead, He purposefully aligns our paths with people who need Him.
The kids and I were passing an elderly man recently who had his riding lawn mower wedged in a ditch. He was trying with all his 80-something strength to pull it out. I turned the car around, and we got out and helped him out of the ditch. With all the praise he gave us, you'd think we had donated a kidney to his cause. He brought over a homemade apple pie to thank us and told us that people who would help are few and far between.
Where have we gone, if a small act of kindness is abnormal? I'm afraid that we approach God as if He just exists to fix us, to meet our needs. But I want to approach Him with the thought that His mercy exists in me to reach outward to people around me who do not have the blessings of His presence yet. Matt 22:37-39 "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment.And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Of course, I need God to work on the places in my own life that need attention, but I cannot sit around absorbing every good teaching that comes my way without putting it into practice and sharing what has been given to me with others.
I encourage you to be in three different kinds of relationships: 1) be around someone who can speak into your life. 2) be around peers who are on the same path as you. 3) be around someone into whose life you can speak. These relationships keep us from getting spiritually bloated. There is a give and take that is represented that keeps us sleek and refined in our faith. I want to do everything in my power to avoid all the good food going bad in my heart. In short, I want to avoid the odor of deterioration!
Even as I try to maintain a healthy outward appearance, I hope even more so to obtain and maintain a superhuman strength and agility of spirit. Exercise is key! If I put all that I have learned into practice, I will be in great shape. I hope you'll do the same.
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