Stink

And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.   Luke 16:15

Detestable – Lord, forgive us.  How often we prize the symbols of success in this world!  If we only truly realized that what the world loves, God abhors.  In fact, Jesus calls the world’s prized possession nothing less than stinking garbage. 

“Detestable” is the Greek word bdelugma.  It literally means something that emits a stench.  It is something that we would ordinarily turn away from in disgust.  It reeks!  In fact, Jesus is undoubtedly using an Old Testament term, to’evah (abomination).  God is very specific about those things that are abominations.  We would do well to know the list.   But even without the specifics, Jesus’ condemnation here in Luke gives us more than enough.  We all know what the world esteems.  What we don’t realize is that we have been breathing this foul air so long that we no longer are repulsed by it.

As a teenager, I once worked for a chicken farmer.  My job was part of a crew that entered the chicken coop at night and gathered birds for the slaughter.  This was no small operation.  The coop held about 10,000 chickens.  The smell was so powerful that most of us wore bandanas over our noses.  But after a few hours in the shed, you got used to it.  Your mind adjusted to the stench and you found that you could breathe without the mask – that is, until you actually stepped outside.  Then you realized that you had been breathing putrid air all that time and never knew it.  The reason we can stay in the coop and not realized what we’re breathing, is because of “olfactory fatigue.” The nerves in our noses breathe the “stink” so long that we never even realize what we’re breathing.

We live in a chicken coop.  We live on a garbage heap.  We live where things are rotting.  But we have been here so long that we don’t turn away from the stench anymore.  Jesus comes to us with fresh air.  He invites us to step away from the smell and discover what the world is like from God’s perspective.  Suddenly we realize that we have been wallowing in detestable things.  We have placed what is rotting, stinking and disgusting on the altars of our thoughts, words and deeds.

Perhaps it would be well if you made a short list of those things men esteem.  Check your list against God’s list (You can look at Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 17-23, and Proverbs 6:16, 12:22 and 16:5).  You might be surprised.  Then ask yourself if any of these have great appeal to you – or if they are already part of your life.  If so, it’s time to take out the garbage.