Sir, Your Breath Stank...

              My dad and I were in the kitchen cooking dinner together the other night. Yes, I was in the kitchen helping my dad make dinner. My dad and I don’t do it very often, so it was a real treat for us. We were making spinach and artichoke dip to take to a friends for thanksgiving. One of our greatest family recipes (and no, I'm not sharing it here;)
              We were mixing all the ingredients and when it came time to add the garlic, my sister bellowed out from across the house, “That smells good! What are you making?”
            I have to agree with her. Garlic smells amazing when it’s being cooked, and the taste is equally exquisite. Allow me to tickle your taste buds for just a minute.
            Imagine garlic bread in the oven.......The smell of garlic butter and  cheese wafting your way as you wait longingly for it to crisp in the oven...... Now it's out of the oven..... Warm and sizzling......You're waiting so patiently for it to be cut and served. ....Now it's finally made it to your plate....... You pick it up and take a bite..... The crunch of toasted french bread and melted cheese.....The rich oils from the garlic butter oozing onto your tongue...... (and possibly down your jaw;)..... as it passes smoothly over the tastebuds and down your throat...... You take another bite....... And then another...... Until the piece on your plate is nothing but a memory....... And then the smell of your breath hits you like a baseball bat.
              Yes! You read that correctly. The smell of your breath.
               Now lets turn this around and look at sin, and what Solomon had to say about it in Ecclesiastes.
               Ecclesiastes 2:1 - 3 "I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives."               Ecclesiastes 2:10,11 "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.                At times, sin looks like so much fun! I mean, the peer pressure is on when all your friends are doing it. And I’m not talking about one specific sin. No. I’m talking about all of them. It can be so tempting, and in today’s society it’s everywhere, it's acceptable, and it's an available option more often than not. For instance,
               "It's just one little white lie."
               "It's not like mom will ever find out."
               "Just one time won't hurt? Right?"
               "Okay, just one more time."
               One more time, one more time, and one more time again. We get caught in the lies and deceit of it. Not realizing that one step leads to another. We compromise one thing, then another, and then we throw out the next until our teeth are black and yellow from the poison that we all so willingly consumed.
               Romans 12:1 and 2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."               God calls us to stand firm. To worship Him as a living sacrifice. To hate what is evil and cling to good. To be transformed into Christ's likeness.To store up our treasures where moth and rust cannot destroy because this life is fleeting, but the next is eternal. This dark world needs a light, and that light is the gospel truth. The good news that we are saved by God's grace through faith and not the work of our own hands. But if we’re scaring people away with our extreme case of halitosis, how are they going to hear the truth of the gospel and see the only perfect light that is God in us?
                I believe it’s time to use a little mouthwash, and let my perfect, all-powerful and loving Dentist do some work on these dentures.
                ~ Taylor*