Noxious Stimuli

Skunks...and more skunks...
Last Friday when I was out trying to enjoy some fresh air in the park I came across nothing but that oh so familiar and unpleasant smell of the skunk.  I tried to be tough and pretend like I could not smell them but their stench was overwhelming and I found myself focusing on that instead of what my real purpose was that morning.  They were everywhere...dead and alive...seen and unseen.  First was the roadkill skunk...who's odor will be ground into the road for the next couple of weeks, and of course the heat and humidity just make his unpleasantness linger longer.  I don't know why in the world the park people have not removed his carcass, causing me to suffer every time I'm there.  Then there was the unseen but so very potent, nose-hair-singeing skunk.  His eye watering smell spread a great distance.  Hoping the smell would have vanished on my next pass through that area, I was sadly disappointed it had not as I was forced to endure it yet again.  Torture.  Then there was the alive-right-there-in-front-of-me-skunk!  He did not smell.  He was just happily poking around some weeds.  I tried to find beauty in this little guy as he was not causing my sense of smell great distress but I just could not...given this was my third encounter that morning.  In this case, I just felt lucky that I saw him on the side of trail BEFORE I became his stink target!  Let me tell you, I turned around faster than you can blink and doubled my pace to escape..thinking what a close call that was!
Once I settled myself and came back into focus I began to think about how a skunk is such noxious (toxic, corrupting, harmful, deadly) stimuli to our nose.  I takes all focus away, causing you to think only about how bad the smell is and how quickly you can get away.  Just as a skunk is noxious to us, our sins are even more noxious to our soul and to God.  Lucky for us skunk smell is only temporary and we really don't have to do much to escape it except wait it out.  Unfortunately, we are not so lucky with sin.  Sin is stuck inside of us, eating away at our heart and soul, slowly destroying our lives and our relationships with those around us and even worse, destroying our relationship with Jesus.  Sin will not just go away with time.  I cannot assume, "that was a long time ago and I'm sure God has forgiven me, I'm different now."  No-sir..It is not that easy!  We must confess to Jesus that wrong-doing, that sin, no matter how deeply and for how long we have filed it away.  Jesus wants to have a beautiful, open, pleasantly fragrant relationship with us.  So..face the sin in your life head-on, confess to your Lord and Savior, and be forgiven.  You will feel an amazing weight lifted off your shoulders.  You will no longer be causing noxious spiritual odor to cloud your heart and relationship your with Jesus.

1 John 3:4-5 (NIV)
"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.  But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins."

Romans 6:20-23 (NLT)
^"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right.  And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.  But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."