The real life faith dangers of SOAP SCUM!

Soap scum. It may be silly, but truths of God come in all levels. So, off to explain the soap scum reference. It's bad. It's frustrating. It happens when we settle for less. When we try to clean things off with inferior products. Its true of our faith walk too. People do it all the time, I've done it all the time. We go for quick fixes. We think we're on steady ground because we're at least trying, but that's a lie, that's THE lie, because we're failing and we're falling. We think we're all good, that we're standing up high and fighting the good fight. Lie. The real question is why?

Answer: It happens when we go for the unworthy stuff because it costs less. Let's be honest, the soap scum costs more, way way way more. It builds up and it starts binding to things. It infects. It costs us our walk. It costs us our life in Christ. If we don't stop the build-up that is.

And what is the build-up say you? Faith soap scum happens when we go for appearances. When we become fake or plastic Christians. When we say the right thing but feel nothing. When we hear without understanding. When we tithe out of obligation. When the people around us are a burden, not joyfully taken up in His love.

It also happens when we stop applying God to our daily lives - come on, what brings scum quicker than that? I know the minute I question the things of God the enemy brings lies to my door - those traps, those agreements that include twistings of God's Word, those 'do what's best for you' advisors. Shut those doors before they open! Rely on the Word in its entirety instead. Delve into it. Dig for truths. Stand firm in it.

Another soap scum faith challenge is the games we play. They look easier and sometimes they feel easier, but they are so much more difficult than we recognize. People play games for many reasons, but mostly they do it to protect and hide themselves. To create distance. To maintain control. To cover themselves in a thin sheen of lies - to which the Christian response is 'I can still see clear enough'. Not into the things of God you can't. The worst part is the excuses that pour forth, they come up in me when I struggle - it's from our flesh and the absolute inability to walk in truth. Games are hard, so shut 'em down. Walk away when they start - set a tone with which people can respond to. Many relationships in my life have standards that were built against games. I walk away from that which is not good. I've done it even more as a Christian. You can't shut out the world, or the people who God has placed in your life, but you can have expectations and limits. Don't just float around agreeing with all, unwilling to take any stand - build your character! Move forward in the things of God. Stop settling for a soap scum existence. God has so much more in store for me and for you!

All in all, soap scum is about taking responsibility for what we pick up and what we put down. Its about not cleaning stuff off our faith and its about trying to walk as if it doesn't matter. It does. The details matter. I don't want to just talk the talk of faith, I want to walk it out. We are going to make mistakes, only One was perfect on this earth, but we need keep our hearts clean. We need a strong faith to rely on - one that continually reaches for more. So my question is simple and not mine at all:

James 2:20
"But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?"

--> I don't want to live a foolish soap scum existence. I want to be a full-out Christian, not have the appearance of one. I want to live in Him.

Psalm 119:11
"I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

--> That's a really powerful cry out to God verse! Putting the things of God into our hearts this way is how to be real in faith. To be stabilized. To be strengthened. Put your Word in our hearts, Lord. Let us know your voice from what we've stored there. Eject and purge everything else. Let us put stubbornness aside and let You work in us. Then strengthen us and build us up to work in You. For Your people, that You may bring them out of this world and into Your heart.

Psalm 119:119
"You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum; no wonder I love to obey your laws!"