Clarity

“I found something vintage”. Finding something vintage would be nice but nope, not in my case. Let me be more specific “I found something vintage in my son’s schoolbag”. This happened towards the end of school year last year in December. He is a teenager now so I thought I could trust him with ensuring that if there is any leftover or uneaten food from his lunch, it will be removed from his bag.

How I found out – there was this awful smell when I walked behind him one morning as he was ready to leave for school and it appeared as though it was coming from his person (he did have his bag on him at that time). Upon investigation, I discovered a very questionable looking sandwich and apple kind of glued to the front compartment of his bag with green and black stuff on it.  I asked him why he allowed it to remain in there and grow mould and if he smelt anything at all when he carried his bag, He shrugged in that typical teenager style and said “Yeah, I did feel something was off so I liberally sprayed deodorant in my bag.”

“What a wonderful solution” – I am being sarcastic here. It did not serve any purpose. It did mask the smell in the beginning but it only grew worse as days went on. Not wanting to tackle the source of the smell, infused the entire bag and everything in it with the smell and eventually made him smell of it too.

It reminded me of how sometimes we do not wish to address certain issues or sin we have deep down in our soul and allow it to grow and fester.

Our soul is the seat of our emotions, reasoning, memory, imagination and such.

Having clarity of the soul and taking care of it are vital.

Joshua 1:9 tells us that “the Lord our God will be with us wherever we go.” If we do not live in that awareness and rest and rely on His power, strength and guidance, we will constantly lose ourselves to our own devises as we listen to and be guided only by our feelings.

The easiest things to fall prey to is the temptations that come our way. It is in the soul where fleshy lusts, desires and appetites arise. The soul is the sphere of activity where Satan makes his appeals to the affections and emotions of man.

Peter 2:11 says “Abstain from fleshy lusts which war against the soul.”

The spirit enables us to see things that are already there with a different perspective. A perspective that something is not according to God’s will and in His strength we can overcome.

God has this amazing life and purpose planned for us. If we allow something to continue to rot within us, it will spread, infuse our whole being and we will miss out on what he has for us.

Let’s just think about how incredible life is underwater. The beauty of which we can experience firsthand when we go snorkelling, the flora and fauna are vibrant and so so beautiful. But imagine going snorkelling in murky waters, you cannot see anything. The clarity of the water is crucial to be able to enjoy the beauty that lies beneath. Do not let any murky waters in your soul prevent you from seeing and experiencing the beauty of the spirit’s work in your life.

Is there an absence of clarity in your soul?

Let us take a moment and reflect if there are any deeply buried issues or sin that we are just allowing to remain in our bag and outwardly try to mask by spraying deodorant. Look inward.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ.”

We cannot bring God’s kingdom to the world before first bringing it to our soul.  

God Bless.