Cleanse Your Palette

If you've ever been shopping for a new perfume, you may have been given a cup of coffee beans to sniff between fragrances. The purpose of the coffee beans is to "cleanse" your olfactory palette so that you smell the true fragrance, and not a mixture-- or even worse, simply become desensitized to the fragrances altogether.

We've been in our new house for two months and one week. I have fought and fought with the cat odor left over from the previous owner. I have even isolated and removed the source of the WORST of the stench. And to be quite honest, I was weary of the battle. However, I began to clean another spot of carpet this morning, and it appears to me that vinegar is also a palette cleanser. I've been using some vinegar in the rinse water for my carpet shampooer. The thing is, upon leaving the room I've been working on, I have been ASSAULTED by this bizarre conglomeration of smells-- good, bad, and UGLY!

And then I began to ponder... ;) I've spent a lot of time recently watching movies and shows, and reading books, that are not distinctively Christian. (Not that I think I should ONLY watch, or read, "Christian" things.) But if that is the only thing I'm spending my time on, I become desensitized to the sin that is displayed in those shows or books-- AND my own sin. So I need time in the Word to "cleanse" my spiritual palette. And just like I got weary of fighting the odors in my house, I can grow weary of the battle with my ever-present sin. =(

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:8-9