Daily Manna from Heaven

by Dr. Harold Sala

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” -2 Corinthians 2:14-15

Certain smells trigger memories, no matter how many years have passed since that fragrance first made contact with your olfactory glands—a perfume that makes you think of a certain romance, the smell of an oven baking oatmeal cookies or fresh bread which will always make you think of your grandmother, or a stale, musty smell which reminds you of your first apartment. Certain odors trigger emotional responses, both positive and negative.

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul alluded to the Roman conquerors who came back victorious after their battles and paraded through streets of Rome or Pompeii leading their prisoners of warfare in chains, but he also mentioned the smell of incense which preceded the whole caravan of humanity and which probably was carried by a pagan priest leading the procession, who swung the incense pot back and forth. Anyone who ever witnessed such an event would always associate the fragrance of the incense which filled the air with the victory procession.

Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:14,15). But Paul is reminding these frail citizens of the Kingdom that it has been God who delivered them from the bondage which characterized their lives and has given them victory over their failures.

For a moment think with me of the moral character of those to whom Paul’s letter was addressed. Among them were immoral men and women who had violated their wedding vows, male prostitutes, con-artists and swindlers, thieves, slanderers, and drunks who never made it through a twelve-step program. And how do I know this?

These are some of the dark characters which Paul mentioned when he wrote to the Corinthians in his first letter. He said, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

What they had been pales in the light of what they became, their lives having forever been changed through an encounter with Jesus Christ. Then Paul pictures them as following Christ in a victory procession.

But what does this have to do with the aroma of incense which was associated with the Roman conquerors? Paul says that the redeemed—those whose lives have been snatched from the fire—have taken on a certain fragrance, a sweet fragrance to those who are being saved and a stench to those who are being lost. Paul referred to it as “the aroma of Christ.”

Paul’s comments explain the polarity which has confronted Christians for centuries. For some the fragrance of Christianity is welcomed. It’s associated with churches, hospitals, street ministries, feeding the homeless, caring for the outcasts of society. It’s what makes our world a better place in which to live. But for those who are opposed to its message, that fragrance associated with the Church is a reminder that these who call themselves Christians are opposed to much that they practice.

Jesus explained this, saying, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Some things never change, so when some individual—perhaps even someone you have never met—doesn’t much care for you, it may well be that the fragrance you are wearing, the touch of Jesus Christ on your life, brings a negative response in that person.

*Permission to reprint this article is hereby granted by Guidelines, Inc.*

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by Dr. Harold Sala

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” -Revelation 21:8

When someone consistently is dishonest or fabricates the truth, we refer to that person as a pathological liar, as though the problem is genetic. The term “pathological” brings the connotation of something which went wrong in a person’s brain—something which he could no more help than to be born with poor eyesight or to contract an infection which addles the brain. We hang a psychological term on someone, which relieves the individual of personal responsibility.

“It’s pathological,” we say. “He can’t help doing it.” Instead of labeling someone a pathological liar, it might be more descriptive if we called someone “a chronic liar.” You know some people become very, very good at distorting the truth, so good, in fact, that they really convince themselves of their fantasy. The “chronic liar” is in a different category from the professional liar—the occasional attorney, the car or real estate salesman, the stockbroker, or the astrologist who reads your tea leaves and tells your fortune.

The chronic liar (pathological, if you prefer) has made it so much his everyday lifestyle that he has a hard time perceiving reality and telling the truth. Now, here is the question: Is such a one doomed? Is he so biologically handicapped that he is destined to go through life confusing fact with fantasy, so insecure that he or she must always strive to impress you, even at the cost of distorting the truth?

Such a person needs shock treatment, and not the kind where doctors attach electrodes to your skull and pass high voltage through your cranium. He needs the kind of shock treatment whereby he realizes dishonesty is absolutely intolerable. Not only does God disdain it, but also he is destroying his credibility and his life in the process. The first step that a chronic liar must take to turn his lifestyle of dishonesty around is the firm realization that he or she has a problem—not an incurable one but a persistent, devastating one.

Step #1: Acknowledge your problem in all honesty.

That’s the first step. This may mean going public with the acknowledgement that you realize you have had a problem. For the alcoholic, there is no hope until he accepts the reality he is an alcoholic. “My name is John, and I am an alcoholic” someone says at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. But I have yet to hear of a group who will say, “My name is John, and I’m a chronic liar.”

Step #2: Ask God’s forgiveness and help. No, don’t appeal to a “higher power.”

Realize that God labels your disorder as sin. But the good news is that there is forgiveness for this problem, and with His forgiveness comes His help. Chronic dishonesty is not an irreversible malady, though it is a persistent one.

Step #3: Become accountable to someone who will ask the tough questions and keep you on target.

When you blow it, confess it and strive to clarify the misrepresentation. The New Testament says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Don’t take the attitude, “it’s OK for me to lie about this since I know God will forgive me anyway.”

That cheapens God’s grace. It’s the attitude Paul condemned when he wrote, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” and he answered his own question saying, “By no means” or “God forbid.”

Step #4: Keep accounts with God.

Take a notebook and each day review what happened the previous day—a kind of running spiritual diary and checklist.

If you believe that the record of God’s word is valid, that as Revelation 21:8 says, “all liars will have their place in the lake of fire,” then you need to simply tell the truth. It’s much safer.

*Permission to reprint the above article is hereby granted by Guidelines, Inc.*

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by Dr. Harold Sala

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” -Revelation 22:13

Want to put stress into perspective?

Then Guideline #1: Get God’s perspective.

Guideline #2: Let your relationship with Him be an anchor or a gyroscope which holds the ship of your life steady.

Hebrews 6:9 speaks of faith as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. A boat without an anchor drifts with the winds and tide, and so do individuals who don’t have anything lasting to hold them steady in the face of stress.

Question: When you were a little kid did you ever say, “My daddy can beat up your daddy”? Well, why not apply that logic to the power of your Heavenly Father in relationship to what causes your stress? Do you really believe that nothing can happen to you apart from the knowledge and will of our Heavenly Father? An acquaintance of mine will put his feet on his desk and say, “So what if they fire me? They can’t take my family; they can’t take away my wife, or my children. All they can take is my paycheck and I’ll trust God for my needs, as Scripture says I can.”

Guideline #3: Stop bearing your load and God’s, too.

Stress says, in effect, “God, you aren’t big enough to handle this, so I’d better figure out what I’m going to do.” Make a note of I Peter 5:7 and Psalm 55:22, which tell us we are to take our loads of stress and our burdens of care and lay them at the feet of a Savior who loves you and cares for your life.

Guideline #4: Bring your lifestyle into harmony with the will of God.

Frankly, we bring much of our stress upon ourselves, trying to do what God never intended us to do and living lives which are designed to create stress. Do you think Jesus ever ran from one meeting to another? Ever wonder if He healed everybody in Palestine when He was here? No! He knew that there were some things which were beyond His physical endurance and He left them right there.

If your life is out of harmony with what God expects, you are the only one who can do anything about it. One of the greatest stress points today is broken families and our relationships which have broken down. And you, friend, are the only one in the entire world who can do anything about that—which brings me to my next guideline.

Guideline #5: Change! Change your schedule which is overloaded.

Change your workload. Change your diet. Change your habits; change your lifestyle. Change your way of thinking. This may mean learning how to say “No!” but saying it in such a way that others understand that you’d like to do something but you simply cannot.

Guideline #6: Budget stress by learning to manage your time.

Often we create stress for ourselves because we don’t plan far enough ahead. Compressing too much into our schedules, we don’t have time to prepare adequately for the future, and when it gets here too soon, we face stress. You don’t leave for the appointment early enough to avoid traffic. You walk into the office five minutes late to the glare of your boss. You have to learn to eliminate stress by planning and by handling your time better.

Guideline #7: Eliminate stress in your family through effective communication.

This includes confrontation as well as communication. Thinking of confrontation as negative, we tend to avoid dealing with issues which keep building up, and eventually we feel the pressure and stress.
To the disciples Jesus said, “…In the world ye shall have tribulation:” (or stress, as the word can aptly be translated,) “but be of good cheer,” he said, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 KJV).

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