I love it when a word captures my attention. I’m not entirely sure why it happens, but I’ve learned that God usually tries to teach me something when it does, so I spend some time listening and learning. It happened again a few weeks ago. The word this time is PERMEATE.
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I often walk into the house and am greeted with the newest scent Kim has purchased from B&BW for the plug-ins throughout. That new scent gets my attention, and I soak it in for a moment before trying to guess what it is and what it triggers in my memory bank of life. The sweet smell “permeates” the room.
Another way of thinking about permeation is mixing colors to paint or ingredients in a recipe. When the new color or additive works into the mix, it impacts what you see and taste. It does this in such a way that once it works through, you can’t remove it. There is almost always a permanent bond when permeation occurs in a mixture.
But I’m not smart enough to be a scientist, patient enough to be a cook, and, as Kim says, “too messy to be a painter.” So, I’ll stay in my lane and write to you about how incredible the impact is when the Spirit of God permeates a life. It is a powerful thing!
Inwardly, when we stop what we can call compartmentalizing or segmenting life into what’s ours to control and what is God’s to control, we begin to take a giant step toward living and experiencing what God truly wants for us. His desire is for all of me and all of you. So, when I resist His loving work in every part of my life, I’m the one that’s missing out. I’m the one who suffers from powerlessness and frustration. I miss out on being a part of what God wants to do around me, with me, and through me.
I’ve learned, and I hope you have, too, that God is not holding out on me. Instead, He’s waiting for me to surrender to Him and allow the Holy Spirit to permeate my life in a way that makes a real impact.
My purpose in writing this month is this: What happens when the LOVE OF GOD permeates my life?
What the world defines as “love” leaves a terrible taste in my mouth. It’s a counterfeit of what God says, that love is in His Word and what He shows us in His nature and character.
Let me give you a couple of examples that the Lord has laid on my heart in the last few weeks related to my word “permeate” and the concept of “love.”
First is the story of Mary and her jar of expensive perfume in John 12. The Bible says that at a dinner, “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.“
Jesus’ love for Mary had so permeated her life that she took her greatest treasure and poured it out on Jesus’ feet. The fragrance “permeated” the room! While all of this stirred those in the house, Jesus responded in love because He knew that in just a few days, He would pour out His love for Mary and all of humanity when He was broken and spilled out for us on the cross.
The second example was that day in the upper room when the Holy Spirit fell on those gathered. They were still trying to understand what had transpired over the last 50 days, but they were obediently waiting in the upper room as Jesus told them to. Then, power-filled by the Holy Spirit of God, they went from an unsure crowd to a bold bunch of Gospel-preaching believers taking the love of God to the world. The same Spirit of God that permeated their life resides in me, you, and everyone who has trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord for their salvation.
When the LOVE of God permeates our lives, we will show the same love He has already shown us. We will know what it means to love others like Jesus taught us.
What is that love like? Jesus reveals the answer to that question as He showed TRUE LOVE through His obedient life and in His sacrificial death. It’s stated clearly in 1 Corinthians 13 when it tells us that LOVE is…
Patient and kind.
Not envious or boasting.
Not arrogant or rude.
Not selfish, irritable, or resentful.
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but instead rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never fails.
This month, I pray that you will allow the Love of Christ to PERMEATE your life and live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Love and blessings to you!