ARE WE KNOWN BY OUR REPUTATION OR OUR FRAGRANCE?

OCTOBER 20, 2014

There was a comedy show with a familiar theme song that you will remember if you remember the show.  The show was Cheers and the theme song’s lyrics were:

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

Although these words were found true, it was also true that each one of the characters, although known by their names, were also known by their reputation and character. 

Life for us who aren’t actors is no different.  We each have a reputation that we tend to live up to.  

We have a reputation in our home, in the workplace, in our church and in our inner circle and each of our reputations may be different in each of our environments.

Our reputations (yes reputations plural) may be different in each of our environments.  We don’t act the same way at home as we do at work or as we do at church because for some reason we become different people with different reputations for different reasons.  Regard-less of the environment, we must ask ourselves are we in character? or out of character?

Our reputation whether good or bad, honorable or dishonorable, highly regarded or disre-garded or one of repute or ill repute is something that follows us all of our lives and sadly, we get labeled by our reputation instead of our fragrance.  A reputation can be a good thing but character is better.  John Wooden said “your reputation is who people think you are your character is who you really are.”  So who are we really?    What is our reputation?  What is your reputation?  It is our reputation that is what people will remember when we leave the room or is it our fragrance?

I’ll be honest with you; I’ve left a room where people were made aware of my reputation.  I’m a no nonsense person when it comes to advocating and fighting for those who don’t have a voice or who have been done an injustice and I’ve became known as an advocate and fighter.  I have also BTT (Before the transformation) had a reputation of being pig headed and strong willed.

Over the years as my relationship with CHRIST has grown and HIS work in my life has me leaving something different behind. I don’t leave the stench of having to have the last say, or being right or pride; all that has dissipated.  I now, because of GOD’s handiwork, leave something completely different behind.  I’ve been touched by the MASTER and because of HIS grace there is sweet fragrance that is left behind.  Not because of me but because of HIM in me.   But there are times that I miss the mark like everyone else.  I 'm still a work in progress.

We are to be the fragrance that is spoken of in the Bible:

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 but thanks are to GOD, who in CHRIST always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads, the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of CHRIST to GOD among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

It is said that humans can distinguish over 10,000 different smells.  But as CHRISTIANS we’re only interested in one aroma that is given off to those that we come in contact with.  We’ve been handpicked, saved, sanctified and set apart to spread the fragrance of life.  We are chosen to be the sweet aroma that moves among the lost and brokenhearted for HIS name sake.   And make no mistake this aroma has nothing to do with reputation.

My reputation is meaningless, but the character of who I represent and the aroma dispelled from my life, my service, and my works which remains in the environment long after I’ve left is because of HIS transforming power in my life.  It's not the person that shines, it's life changing power of GOD that sets us apart.

Living in this world today reputations are over rated.  The current situations of this world are in need of the spreading the knowledge of who CHRIST is.  Some will appreciate the message that we spread while others won’t.  Some will like us for what we’ve shared while others will hate us.  Some may be drawn to us while others may reject us.  Some may draw near to us while others will run from us.  

Our purpose and task at hand is to spread the aroma and the message so we must be reminded that we have no control over how or if the people receive it.  At the end of the day all we have to do is live out the message.

To be associated with that amazing scent always wearing that same signature scent so when we leave an environment the people will get a whiff of the fragrance of CHRIST left behind is key in the times we’re living in.  Our natural sense of smell is powerful so why not leave an aroma be-hind that can cause others to experience the unconditional love of CHRIST.

When you leave an environment what do people remember about you the most?  Your reputation or your fragrance?  That’s a lot for all of us to think about.

GOD BLESS

SEPARATION ANXIETY

10/13/14

Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is a psychological condition in which an individual experiences excessive anxiety regarding separation from home or from people to whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment (e.g. a parent, grandparents, or siblings).

In April, 1989 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread to her lungs and lymph nodes.  I was 3,000 miles away and was trying to do my part as the oldest daughter I felt compelled to do as much as I could.  Within a year, I traveled to Ohio 3 times, every 3 months and the final trip was April, 1990 my mother’s funeral.   When my mother was critically ill I found I needed to talk to someone.  It was a hard to do but I began see a psychologist and he asked me “what was going on in my life”? I quickly told him about my mother.  And for the visits that followed, every time he mentioned my mother I began crying, she was alive, and I was grieving before we even knew what GOD’s plan was for her life.  I remember the counselor saying I was having separation anxiety.  My mother and I wasn’t as close as she was with my younger sister, I wasn’t her favorite and I had been on my own since I was 16 and yet I felt like something was being torn away from me.  

Anytime we’re separated from someone by choice or by circumstance, it’s agonizing.  The pain is relentless.  Think back at a time that you were separated from someone you loved.  My memory is as if it was yesterday.  The pain was so deep that I couldn’t breathe.  It’s as though my life had been sucked right out of me.  Does this bring back memories for you?  Do you remember how you felt?

Sometimes we step outside the parameters of our relationship with GOD.  We push the envelope.  We know in our heart where we’re to be, what we’re to do, what we’re to say, how we’re to act, the character that HE expects of us, the vocation that HE wants for us, yet we cause that separation between us and GOD.  And anyone who truly knows the depth of GOD’s love and the sacrifice that HE gave for us, has said yes to HIM and has developed a relationship with HIM knows that any separation from GOD or perceived distancing  causes separation anxiety at its highest point.

Even when we’ve stayed inside the boundaries and are on point, on track and are following the steps that have been ordered, the slightest separation or perceived distancing from GOD is unbearable.  About 13 years ago an incident happened at work that caused me to leave the premises in a fragile state.  I was broken and all I knew is I needed to hear from GOD.  I needed to feel HIS presence.  I went to the park where I had gone so many times to commune with HIM, and to be in total fellowship with HIM as I had done so many times before.  It was one of the places where I found peace and comfort in the arms of my FATHER and it kept me going.  I’d sat on top of the park bench for hours waiting to hear from GOD, waiting for that shroud of peace and comfort that I desperately needed but it didn’t come.  I was crying and waiting and waiting and crying and I felt I was the only one left on the planet and no one but GOD understood me and the situation at hand.  Some would say I was being persecuted on the job, I wouldn’t say persecuted, but I will say the pressure of what was going on at the job was unbearable.  And here I was waiting for GOD to speak to me, to rescue me, to pull me up out of the pit that I was sinking into, but HE never answered. 

Day after day after day I’d go to a hill, park my car, look out over the city, pray, cry and wait for GOD, and I was steadily asking HIM where are YOU?  Speak to me.  I felt hopeless, lifeless and was growing faint in my faith.  Running on in this race wasn’t in my vocabulary nor my heart, I was hurting not because of the trial I was going through but because I had separation anxiety.  I was being temporary separated from GOD and all I knew was this had to be temporal because if it lasted for more than a season, I wouldn’t make it.  I had just started growing in my faith; I was coming to know GOD and not just knowing about HIM.  I liked the feeling of seeking HIM, serving HIM, having HIM use me for HIS glory and to touch lives.  But where was HE?

I was nowhere near where I am in CHRIST today and this was a painful test.  I went to HIM non-stop asking HIM to show me HIS presence.  And then it happened that warmth, joy, the touch and the hand of GOD that I had longed to feel was there and joy filled my heart in the crevices that had been broken.  

I think sometimes we get caught up in our circumstances, in our storms and we become paralysed and forget that HE is with us in the midst of it all and we let the paralysis turn into fear and the fear puts a distance between GOD and us and that’s when we feel that sense of separation.  The distance is quickly resolved when we realize we are in the palm of HIS hands always and that HE’s never left us. 

If you’ve felt separated from GOD let me tell you, there’s no such thing.  There’s no reality in this statement because NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD.  Romans 8:35,37-39.  35 Can anything ever separate us from CHRIST’s love? Does it mean HE no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ” ^[a]) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through CHRIST who loved us.  ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from GOD’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, ^[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from GOD’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of GOD that is revealed in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.

Be anxious for nothing, HE IS WITH YOU!