Author: Jim Corbett

       "Do you know that your lives are designed to give flavor and seasoning to a tasteless world? Have you noticed what or who the world calls important, or beautiful, or successful? Do you see how shallow and tasteless it has become as it seeks to find value in its vain idols? No one will ever be able to substitute anything for My way of doing things and remain fulfilled. Notice how those who refuse to serve Me scurry from place to place, thrill to thrill, seeking satisfaction of some sort. Notice how there never seems to be enough for them. That is the way it has always been and will always be.

        "Ask those who claim to be independent of My will in their lives. They will tell you that they are free spirits and bow to no one. In their folly, they will even find ways to prove that I don't exist. How pitiful they are as they attempt to fill the void that is meant for Me in their lives. They manufacture their own form of beauty, but real beauty is not to be found. They attempt to serve important things; but their treasures are of no importance and will be exposed for the sham that they are.

        "I hold beauty in the palm of My hands. Importance is what I deem important. Real value is not elusive when it is based on My ways. You have been given eyes to see what is really beautiful, important, and of real value. The scales have been taken from your eyes. You have seen that your moments with Me are far more fulfilling than all of your former attempts to find pleasure in the world combined. You must season the world with your new life. Show others how flavorful a life can be. Live bountifully in Me, no matter what you may be going through. As you do, your life will spread My life in all directions, giving others taste buds for those things that have true worth.

        "You become the seasoning that I have called you to be in your world. I will give anyone who comes to Me full meals of real value and eternal worth. I will show them splendor and beauty beyond their wildest imaginations. I will show them Jesus as they observe you and your life."

Ezekiel 44:23 AMP

The priests shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common or profane, and cause them to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

Habakkuk 2:18-20 NIV

18) Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

19) Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.

20) But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

Matthew 5:13 AMP

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

I remember one girl in high school who stood out among the rest. The only way that I can explain how she looked to me was that she was always "clean." Whenever I would picture her, she would be sitting on a rock near an ocean, the wind doing wonderful things to her hair, her face shining in the sun. (Those are some pretty weird thoughts for a pimply-faced, gas-pumping motorhead, who spent most of his days wondering things like where the ocean was, if there really was one.) She had an untouchable beauty that set her apart, so much so that I needed to find out what made her so beautiful.

After dating briefly, (I remember that she knit little covers for every knob and handle in my car,) I saw no value in anything for which she stood. We had no common interests, so I joined the rest of my friends who called her "too weird to date." I even had to pick her up from church a couple of times. How weird is that!

As I look back, however, her quiet life stood out as a light would invade darkness. She frightened me with her unspoken purity and her continuous joy. My filthy mouth was silenced in her presence, even though she never told me not to swear. She was the most beautiful, friendliest, most loving, courteous person I had ever met. I wanted to be different than what I was when I was with her, but had no clue how to change. She scared me with her integrity and unquestioned acceptance.

In my insecurity and life of purposeless floundering, her kind of quiet peace was unattainable as far as I was concerned. She never had a harsh word for anyone, always served everyone, and expressed words of love that I could not understand. Her life was so bright that I had to flee from it, so that I could function in the way that I wanted.

She died in an automobile accident in our senior year of high school. I had to leave the funeral early because I had nowhere to place the joy that everyone had through their tears. I could only cry, something that I rarely did. How could they be smiling?

Some twenty years later, after I had embraced the love of Jesus, I finally understood how brightly her light was shining in my dark, little world. She was a rare diamond in a world that honored only costume jewelry, all because of her love for a Jesus that I did not know then.

Let my life glow with Your love, Lord. Needing Your mercy and forgiveness more than ever, Lord. Please change my heart and how I perceive others, so that You can use me,

Jim Corbett

"Do you know that a great number of the problems in this world manifest themselves because of the burdensome weight of sin? Sin upon unconfessed sin is a ruthless task master. All other issues and actions are tainted, all perspectives are darkened when sin rules a heart. No relief from that heavy weight of sin causes relationships to crumble, nations to war, and eventual death to any form of mercy and grace, either received or given.

"Jesus died to relieve the world of the need to carry the weight of sin. Anyone who acknowledges Him and the work of the cross has a new life, a clean slate, and the prospect of a sinless future. With the freedom imparted when you are forgiven, there is also a wonderful power placed in you. It is the power to forgive those who sin against you. Those who have gone before you forgave those who laughed, as their children were eaten by mastiffs and lions. They forgave when their loved ones were crucified or impaled. They forgave those who took their lives - dying with unblemished hearts. They truly overcame the world and its love of sin. I require the same kind of forgiveness from you before you can become totally free.

"I see the foolishness of holding unforgiveness in your heart for the smallest violation of your precious ego. I see you burden others for the sin that you daily embrace. I see your life destroyed in exchange for your need to harbor and protect your right to hold someone's sin against him or her. You are not free because you will not free others from their offenses. You are foolish; you are deceived; you are in bondage to the world. If I held you accountable for all of your sin, you would not be able to bear up under its weight.

"I forgave you; now you forgive everyone. Start with those who sin against you now. Prepare to forgive those who might someday kill you."

Matt. 6:12, 14-15 AMP

12) And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.

14) For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15) But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.

I Cor. 13:5b AMP

Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

Col. 3:13 AMP

Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive].

I Pet. 4:8 AMP

Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].

Merry and I once lived near a man who was totally crippled because of unforgiveness. To be with him was like standing next to a dark hole that sucked every joy from your entire being. There was no light in him.

If you should happen to be accepted by him for a season, it was just a matter of time before he separated himself from you because of some perceived injustice you had done to him. Once that happened, he then was a ruthless enemy to you and everyone you held dear. He held your offense against you forever with no hope of reprieve.

The fascinating thing is that at one time he was a smiling, happy person - very amiable and joyful to be around. He was well-liked and a friend to many. Upon investigation through talking to those who knew him, there seemed to be a specific time when he changed. It occurred whenever he was offended by someone, usually a family member. It made no difference whether or not the offense was real or simply something he perceived to be an offense.

Of course, there was no communication on his part to express how he felt, so most of the time the people around him wouldn't know of their offense until he stopped talking to them. To him, the offense was so great that he closed his heart to any kind of compassion toward others.

Every relationship then became an opportunity for him to repay the injustice done against him by holding that injustice over the other party. Now unforgiveness ruled his entire being. He was totally crippled in mind and daily becoming crippled in body. The weight of his sin - the habit of unforgiveness, now a way of life for him - was in fact causing him to deteriorate.

Unforgiveness in the hearts of His children is not tolerated by the Lord. He is a formidable foe to anyone who harbors it and does not want any of His children to hold onto it, because it causes separation from Him as well as others. If your life is out of order, examine the black pit of holding anyone's offense against you in your heart. Forgive, forgive, forgive. You will be set free, free, free!

Remember: If you will not forgive, you are standing in judgment. If you choose to forgive, you are extending mercy. The choice is yours. It is of eternal significance.

Needing desperately what I am required to give out!

Jim Corbett