TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 31ST JULY 2024)
“But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,
For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]
For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God’s Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity and the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the [very] sight and presence of God.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 213TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it.
God has been mindful of us and has not given us to the will of our enemies. Again and again, He has proved Himself faithful and strong in our lives. To Him belong all the glory in Jesus precious name. Amen!
Today is the last day of the 7th month of the year. Our gratitude goes to the King of kings and LORD of lord, Jesus Christ our Righteousness. He has loaded each day of the month with benefits, that is why we are alive and getting ready for the next month.
The LORD God has been speaking to us on practical Christianity.
The vision is to bring us to the place where our lives will be filled with the knowledge of His glory, as the water cover the sea.
Sadly, the world has its own version of the life of Christ, and the church has copied that version. To the world, the life of Christ is the life of sacrifice and selflessness. But they do not add the sinless and holy life He lived and His desire to make us sinless and holy as He was.
They do not add how He brought the kingdom of GOD down to collapse the kingdoms of darkness and establish the kingdom of light. They pick the part of Christ they are comfortable with and ignore the one that threatens their traditions, life style and culture.
Sadly, that is the same error we are caught up in as believers. We limit the life of Christ to what the world tells us it is. We conform to the world because we are not yet transformed through the renewal of our minds. Hence, we seem lost at what the true will of God is concerning our being on earth as Christians.
We forget that our fathers never had a Christianity that was conforming to the culture of the day. They had a Christianity that was reforming the culture of the day.
YOU CANNOT REFORM ANY SYSTEM IF YOU CONFORM TO IT.
That is why our Bible fathers never did, hence getting the amazing kingdom advance results they got. They were an aroma of death to the lost world; death to its evil and corrupt system, death to its sinful deeds, personal wickedness and etc. That was why they were hated and persecuted.
A part of our devotional text says;
To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?] 2 Corinthians 2:16 AMPC
This scripture tells us what will happen to our world when we live the practical Christian life that is required of us.
Those who are lost, or blinded by the spirit of this world, will treat us like an aroma of death and doom, because of the convictions of the Spirit that our presence will be emitting to them. But those who are heading to Heaven will treat us as a vital fragrance, a living and fresh force that powers their spiritual lives to grow and blossom.
The former will be calling us the worst things that happened to them, and the later will be calling us the best thing that happen to them. That is the divide you see when true Christianity is experienced by people around you.
Sadly, that is the divide many fear to see, which is why they are conforming to what they fear. The Bible says;
“Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].” Romans 12:2 MAPC
If we do not live practical Christian lives, we will remain conformed to the world in our customs, traditions, thoughts, ideas, and etc., despite professing Christianity. Yes, we will lead worldly lives despite calling ourselves born again.
THAT IS WHY THE CHURCH OF TODAY IS WORLDLY AND THE WORLD CHURCHY.
God’s desire remains to convert the kingdoms of this world into His Kingdom and of His Christ, using our life styles. However, there will not be total conversion in this age. The total conversion will take place in the age to come. It will begin in this age through our lifestyles and end in the age to come, where Christ will reign as king of kings and LORD of lords.
We slow down this process and eliminate it completely in many other places when we conform to the world that God left us in, basically for the purpose of carrying out reforms for Him. Jesus prayed for His disciples (and by extension us) saying;
“I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world. Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.
Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John 17:15-18 AMPC
This scripture negates the idea of conformity to this world completely. It says a born-again child of God is no longer of this world, by conduct and life style. By decision making and tradition.
By career pursuit and life goals. It says we are no longer of this world, just as a child once born is no longer of the mother’s womb. And the prayer or goal is not that we be taken out of the world that we are no longer part of by virtue of spiritual rebirth, but to be kept in it.
We are to be kept in it for the purpose of winning it back to the LORD. Yes, for the purpose of reforming and transforming its moral landscape. But we can not transform or reform what we are conforming to.
Jesus prayed that the Father will purify and consecrate us, that He will do all that and separate us for Himself, making us holy by the sanctification power of His Truth, all the days of our lives. That is the only way we are not going to conform to the world.
THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN REFORM AND TRANSFORM IT, INSTEAD OF CONFORM TO IT.
The last line in that scripture says, “Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
The question now is, how did the Father send Him? He was born into this world to do just one thing, to die for our redemption, and through that, strip the enemy of His power over us, and salvage us from a life of sin, iniquity and trespass.
Understand that, we are here on earth in this age and time, to build on that, without doing any damage to what he started. Another portion of our devotional text says;
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,
For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:” 2 Corinthians 2: 14-15 AMPC
This scripture made it clear that you and I are trophies of Christ’s victory over sin, Satan and the world. But until we are properly aligned, He will not be able to impact this world through us. This word is about being used of the LORD, because you can not be significantly blessed by the LORD, until you are used by Him.
Trophies of Christ Victory are to be used by Him to impact the world, by spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of God among those who are being saved (the Church) and among those who are perishing (the world). We are not just to spread it by word of the mouth; that have been done for ages.
Now the world wants to see Christ in us. So, we are to spread it by our life styles. That is why the word said “make evident the fragrance of His knowledge.”
TO MAKE EVIDENCE IS TO PRODUCE PROOFS.
Meaning, whatever we teach about the LORD, people should see it in our lives. Our mouths are to say the theorical aspect, while our lives demonstrate the practical aspect. That is how we make evident the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing.
If our lives run contrary to what our mouths are teaching, our lives will destroy the power of what we are saying with our lips.
Yes, the way we live will destroy the power of our preaching and teachings, no matter how accurate or true they may be, if our lives do not align. If our lives align with the doctrine of Christ that we may be teaching with our lips, we will become the sweet fragrance of Christ unto God on the face of the earth, bringing salvation to the perishing and sanctification to those who are being saved.
Apart from the need for those of us who are preaching to conform to what we preach, God also wants those who are hearing to conform as well. When the doctrine of Christ is preached and those who hear conform, they also, will become a sweet fragrance of Christ to God on the face of the earth.
When you become a sweet fragrance of Christ to God on the face of the earth, through the transformation that comes from His word, you will become fit and useful for every good work. Yes, your life will not be different from what Christ teaches in His word.
You will not profess with your mouth that you know Him, but by works deny Him. You will be fit to be used by Christ this end time to salvage the perishing and sanctify those who are being saved.
The Bible says;
“They profess to know God [to recognize, perceive, and be acquainted with Him], but deny and disown and renounce Him by what they do; they are detestable and loathsome,unbelieving and disobedient and disloyal and rebellious and [they are] unfit and worthless for good work (deed or enterprise) of any kind.” Titus 1:16 AMPC
As we step into a new month from tomorrow, make the need for practical Christian living your goal.
Do not forget that God wants us to lead lives that He can use to reform and transform the world, not lives that are conformed to it. Keep in mind that our destiny as believers, is to be the sweet fragrance of Christ unto God, among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Be strong (confident) and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” Joshua 1:6-8 AMPC