What smells in here?

Being a mom is great! But it does have it's moments of uh....should I say smelliness?

Today James threw up. It really wasn't a big deal. It was more like a spit up. It didn't smell the best (duh) so I scrubbed the carpet. I thought I had it all cleaned so I went back to whatever I had been doing before he spit up.; but a few minutes later Anna pointed out a spot I had missed....so I scrubbed at that to. Anyway, like an hour later I notice the the living room still smells, so I sprayed the carpet with Fabreeze. That should do it I thought.

All night I keep getting this whiff of something that stinks. I can't figure it out. I thought maybe it would go away after I gave James his bath. I washed and lathered him up with that oh so good, Huggies baby lotion. Oh, I just love that smell. The sweet smell of freshly washed baby! :) I could just drink it in.

Ok, so problem solved? Nope! After we tucked the kids into bed I was sitting here on the computer still smelling something so gross. (It's not on my hands because those smell like baby lotion! :)) I looked around the living room, I cant see anything. I am getting really frustrated. I have considered that maybe it is on ME. But I looked several times and didn't see anything. FINALLY I spot it.... spit up on my shoulder! UGH! :) Mystery solved!

Ok so this is pretty much a pointless post, but I thought it was funny. I walked around all night with this horrible smell right under my nose but I couldn't see it. I could for sure smell it, but I couldn't find the root of the problem.

Hmmmm....makes me think of something else, something more spiritual. The stench of my own stinking rotting flesh when I choose not to walk in the spirit. I might walk around for a long time sniffing and scrubbing at what I think is the cause of the smell. I might try and cover it up with some nice body spray...but the stench still remains. The answer is so close, but so often I fail to see it. I sometimes have tried so hard to get rid of my smell not realizing that I can't get rid of it by covering it up. The answer to my problem lies in the cross...The other side of the cross.

To chose to sin is like bringing up a dead decaying carcase. Just as it would not make any sense for me to pick up my old stinky, spit-up on shirt and continue to wear it; it doesn't make any sense to chose to walk in sin. (but because we have a sinful nature we do) See, as a believer "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20 The other side of the cross comes in when I realize that I am dead to sin and resting in that truth. I cannot get rid of the smell by "Fabreezing" it up.

Here's the thing...ok so we believe that the only way to obtain salvation is through faith in Christ (faith alone in His finished work on the cross). So, why once we are saved do we think we have to "try" so hard to be good...try so hard to stop sinning? Just as we are justified by faith so also are we sanctified by faith.

Charles Trumbull said, " The effortless life is not the will-less life. We use our will to believe, to receive, but not to exhort effort in trying to accomplish what only God can do. Our hope for victory over sin is not 'Christ plus my efforts,' but 'Christ plus my receiving.' To receive victory from Him is to believe His Word that solely by His grace He is, this moment, freeing us from the dominion of sin. And to believe on Him in this way is to recognize that He is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves."

If we are not fully acquainted with the workings of the cross and the crucifixion of our flesh, then it only makes sense that we could misunderstand and think that growth somehow comes from our own efforts. At that point the best we can do is confess our sin. confession "takes care of the penalty of the product, but not the source"(Miles Stanford.) We need to allow the Holy Spirit to get at the source before the sin is committed. The answer to our source of sin is death to self. Rom 6:11 "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

So getting to my parallel...just as I had to place a clean shirt on to get rid of the foul smell of spit- up; spiritually we are told to put on the new self. Eph 4:24 "And put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." We put on the new self by reckoning that I am dead to sin and my life is hidden in Christ. So no amount of my own scrubbing at my rotting flesh will get rid of it...Only Christ...only resting to death truths...only realizing that I am alive to God...sin is no longer my master.

My point is simply this...God did not save us and them simply leave us to try and figure it out on our own. There is so much in His Word for us. The answers are there...the answers for growth and for life are all found in the cross.

So I leave you with that...food for thought. Hopefully it all makes sense!

It is late and I am off to bed.