The Smell Of Hell.

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self, who is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the One who created him. (Colossians 3:9-10)

In this past Sunday's sermon, Pastor Althea spoke on the importance of our being renewed in Christ daily.

What does it mean to be in a continuous state of renewal?

• To begin again/begin anew;
• To become re-acquainted;
• To restore/revive;
• To re-establish/renovate.

The lack of renewal is an indictment of (and in) those who have "accepted Jesus" and have claimed affiliation with the Christian faith for several years or even decades, but whose day-to-day lives show no reflection of the image and likeness of Christ. As our pastor shared, such Christians are "frowzy"; they wear stale clothes, spiritually speaking. They crave the stale air of the world instead of the fresh winds of the Holy Spirit. They cease to grow in the knowledge of who our Christ is.

Many years ago a colleague of mine shared, "If you're not moving forward in your relationship with the Lord, then you must be moving backwards." Or, to say it in a Colossians-esque way, if we aren't experiencing daily renewal, then we are harboring the old self... and the old self is a faithful servant of the devil (see Colossians 3:5-8).

We cannot idle our spiritual car in "neutral", because there is no neutral. Each new day will find us either growing or dying in our faith walk.

Dear saints of God, let us forever tend the revival fire that burns in our hearts: always a fragrant aroma of prayer and devotion to Christ; never the stagnant decay of an untended relationship.