DAILY DEVOTIONAL – January 20, 2021
“Killer Looks”
Prayer: Jesus, Your words are perfect and true. Your promises have never failed. You have always been and will always be faithful to us in every way. Lord, forgive us for trusting in the lies of the devil, this sinful world, and our own sinful thoughts. Strengthen us in faith, in Your Word, that we may be and remain fully satisfied by You each day, and for all eternity. Amen.
Scripture: Romans 6:20-23
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Devotional – “Killer Looks”
If you were to go walking through a large flower garden in the spring time and breathe in deeply through your nose, you no doubt would expect to smell pleasant aromas that were compatible with the pleasant appearance of the blooming flowers you see all around you. Well, what if instead of pleasing aromas you breathed in deeply and caught a giant whiff of something you could only describe as “3-day-old road-kill,” “rotting flesh,” or “fish gone bad”? That is exactly how many people have described the horrific smell of the beautifully appearing
Amorphophallus Titanum flower, otherwise known as the “corpse” flower.
Native to the equatorial forests of Sumatra, the corpse flower can grow up to 10 feet tall. Though beautiful in its own, disgusting way, once the corpse flower blooms, it even looks like rotten meat. Both it’s smell and appearance serve as a veritable welcome mat for the insects that pollinate it—flies and carrion beetles. According to University of Connecticut research assistant Matthew Opel, the corpse flower “looks like something has died. It smells like something has died. It has the same chemicals that dead bodies produce.” The flower, however, which begins to disintegrate after two days, is nothing but a big practical joke to the flies and other carrion insects, says Opel. “Unlike other plants that offer nectar, there’s no real reward here. They think they’re going to get a meal because it smells like something dead.”
What a beautifully disgusting picture the corpse flower gives us of sin. After all, sin is beautifully disgusting isn’t it? The temptation of the Devil made the forbidden fruit appear to Adam and Eve as being “good for food, a delight to the eyes, able to make one wise,” but that was only a big practical joke. The only thing that awaited Adam and Eve after rebelling against God and falling into sin was the stench of death. The same is true for us in our sinful nature as descendants of Adam and Eve. We have allowed things in our lives that shouldn’t be because of their deceptive beauty, we have entertained thoughts that cause us to sin because we desire to be wise, and we have given our worship to idles because we foolishly believe they will fill us and satisfy us.
Reading about this corpse plant, I was reminded of a saying I once heard. I am not too sure who originally said it, but it’s true nonetheless. “The devil will tell you ninety-nine truths so that you will believe one lie.”
Jesus Christ is the Truth. He never lies or misleads and His Words absolutely come True simply because He said them. He is the maker of all things, the One who makes and defines reality, and because of that, if He says something, that something becomes reality even from nothing.
In John 15 Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
Jesus alone is the True vine, and unlike the corpse flower, attaching Yourself to Him only results in the fruit of the everlasting life Jesus has already given us through His death and resurrection. When we attach ourselves to sin, when we are lured in by the façade of beauty, then we suffer the same fate as the poor insects that are deceived by the corpse flower; we are left empty and unsatisfied. Much like the corpse flower promises much but only ends up taking from the insects that pollinate it, sin only takes from us, robs us of the joy and life we have been given. This is why Paul says in Romans 6, “20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”
Our only hope of conquering sin and temptation is to stay connected to the True vine of Christ. As the Word of God in the flesh who commands reality to be with a word, Jesus tells the disciples and all who put their faith and hope in Him, “Already you are clean because of the Word I have spoken to you.” That Word of Christ that creates faith and that has made us clean in the waters of our baptism, is the vine of Christ in which we are to abide. God works through His Word each day to work into our lives that which will bear fruit and cut out of our lives that which is dead and dying. This is where we find true satisfaction, when we keep ourselves full of Christ’s Words so that we hunger and desire nothing else. As Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
I pray your joy is full my friends. Thanks for joining me for another daily devotional, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
