I am all about shying away from the negative side of our growth to focus on the positive side. However there is I have found many who just never seem to come acquiring the positive completely and therefore they are lacking insight which may be caused by dullness and it is this that I want to look into. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his writing on Grace and our having the fragrance of Christ. And then with the use of the ESV translation and the LORDS help I will look into our having a lack of insight.
"A Fragrance of Christ to Every Person"
"Now thanks be to God who . . . through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of Life to LIFE." (2Corinthians 2:14-16)
"The fragrance of Christ is one of the great characteristics that GOD wants to build into our lives by His Grace. "Now thanks be to GOD Who . . . through us diffuses the fragrance of His Knowledge." This spiritual aroma, which results from getting to know the LORD, blesses the heart of GOD. "For we are to GOD the Fragrance of Christ." The Father loves to see the Life of His Son being expressed in and through our humanity, even though this requires our willingness of dying to self. "For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the Life that was in Jesus (in His humanity) also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2Corinthians 4:11).
As we are getting to know the LORD more and more, our GOD is not the only one who is impacted. This spiritual aroma of Christ impacts every person we meet. "GOD . . . through us diffuses the Fragrance of His Knowledge in every place." This includes both the saved and the unsaved. "For we are to GOD the Fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."
This fragrance affects those who Know the LORD: "the Fragrance of Christ . . . among those who are being saved." For those who are enjoying the benefit of their Life in Christ, that heavenly scent in our lives is "the aroma of Life to LIFE." Christ's Fragrance in us draws them to seek the abundance in that Life which they have entered.
This spiritual scent also influences those who do not yet Know our LORD: "the fragrance of Christ . . . among those who are perishing." To them it is "the aroma of death to death." They are dead (separated from the commonwealth of GOD) in their sins, and this aroma makes them more aware of their deadness, more aware of their need for Christ.
When this fragrance is emanating from our lives, we are not the cause. GOD is the active agent, working in and through us to bring forth this heavenly scent. "Now thanks be to GOD Who . . . through us diffuses the Fragrance of His Knowledge." This work of GOD's Grace is available to us every day we live and every place we go: "the Fragrance of His Knowledge in every place."
Lack of Insight:
Matthew 16:5-12, 21-27 "When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread." But Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees......From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed (by those called Jews), and on the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a (religious) hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of GOD, but on the things of man." Then Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He Will repay each person according to what he has done."
Luke 24:13-27 "That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. And HE said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him, "Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And HE said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find His body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see." And HE said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His Glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, HE interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."
John 3:4-8 "Nicodemus (a Jew a pious man of the Pharisee sect) said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water (this draws an assumption of the ritual of washing a purely human aspect) and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of GOD. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
John 6:59, 60-65 "Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
When many of His disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit Who gives Life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life (indicating that for one to hear and see they are in need of this Life of faith within them). But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.) Then He said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father."
John 20:1-10 "Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark (between 4 to 6 am), and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that HE must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes."
John 21:4-8 "Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, do you have any fish?" They answered Him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off."
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