It was late afternoon and my stomach was feeling famished. Lunch felt like ages ago. Opening the frig the last two slices of cheese caught my eye. Yes…that is a perfect snack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had just returned from having dental work done and my mouth was aching as the numbness wore off. Cheese is soft and it will melt away in my mouth. Perfect!<\/p>\n
Taking a bite I began running water for the overflowing pile of dishes. I played back and forth between dishes and cheese. After the pile had disappeared\u00a0I returned to the last slice of cheese. Once the cheese was in my mouth I became aware of a metal like taste. I thought, “eww the dental work must have left a nasty taste in my mouth that I didn’t notice with the first slice of cheese!”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turning the piece of cheese around getting ready for another bite…Yikes! A glaring green circle of mold. Immediately I ran to the trash can to discard the remanence\u00a0of the last bite. Then to the sink. Rinsing my mouth over and over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing that green circle made all the difference. Seeing the filth that had entered my mouth caused a reaction within me. Moving quickly, doing anything I could to get the undesirable out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This morning as I thought about this scene. As I reflected on my reaction and the appearance of the cheese…on one side the cheese looked great, spotless. However, on the reverse, the hidden side it was filthy…growing something that changed its taste.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes we let our lives become as the cheese in my frig that day. It looked good. We look good on the outside. We go to church, volunteer with the children’s ministry, don’t swear or drink. All the while on the other side mold is growing. On the inside, we have a growing bitterness or addiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We have let a fungus in. Let something grow into an undesired spot…something that is changing our taste, our flavor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A flavor that in time will be noticed by others and spewed out. A flavor that God cannot work with. A taste tainted\u00a0by sin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mold can be stopped. Mold can be killed. It does not have to continue to grow in our hearts, in our lives. God will take the mold out if we let Him. God will clean and make us taste sweet again if we want Him to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One small spot of mold can make all the difference!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Revelation 3:15-16\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!<\/span><\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/sup>So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.<\/em> ESV<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Psalm 139:23-24\u00a0Search me, O God, and know my heart;\u00a0<\/span>test me and know my anxious thoughts.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>Point out anything in me that offends you,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and lead me along the path of everlasting life.<\/em> NLT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n James 1:27\u00a0Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.<\/em> NLT<\/p>\n Psalm 103:11-13\u00a0For as high as the heavens are above the earth,\u00a0<\/span>so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;\u00a0<\/span><\/span>as far as the east is from the west,\u00a0<\/span>so far does he remove our transgressions from us.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>As a father shows compassion to his children,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>so the Lord<\/span> shows compassion to those who fear him.<\/em> ESV<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was late afternoon and my stomach was feeling famished. Lunch felt like ages ago. Opening the frig the last two slices of cheese caught my eye. Yes…that is a perfect snack.\u00a0 I had just returned from having dental work done and my mouth was aching as the numbness wore off. Cheese is soft and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","sharing_disabled":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[16,9,25],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/shutterstock_258710444.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7NWg5-cL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":792,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}