“What stinks?”
These
were the words that my sweet eleven year old chose to embrace me with the
moment she walked through the door. I had no idea what she was talking about. I
honestly didn’t smell anything. A few minutes later my thirteen year old chose to
grace me with the exact same welcome. I still didn’t smell anything. Since
nothing reeked to me and I wasn’t uncomfortable, I completely dismissed their
questions and didn’t bother to pursue the source of a stench that I didn’t
smell.
Fast forward to the next day…I had a full morning of errands
so I was out of the house for several hours. I walked in the door and the first
words out of my mouth were, “What stinks?” I started to
investigate and quickly found a pot in the sink that had been left to soak for
a bit too long…and it reeked!
Was the stench new? No, because my daughters had each
smelled it the day before. Why hadn’t I smelled it when they did? The only
answer I can come up with is that I had been with the stench from the beginning.
I hadn’t left the house in a few days so the growing stench didn’t repulse me
right away. It took me getting out of the house and being separated from the
stink before I could recognize its presence.
I could have found the foul odor the day before when my
children so lovingly pointed its presence out, but I didn’t even try. I wasn’t
offended or repulsed like they were I saw no urgent need for change.
Once the smell assaulted me and made me uncomfortable, I had
no choice but to find the source. Once found, I quickly washed dishes and
bleached the sink. Doing this effectively got rid of the stink that had invaded
our home.
It’s that way with sin too. It causes a stench in our lives
that sometimes we don’t notice because we are too close to it or have grown
accustomed to it being there. We have no sense of urgency to deal with something that doesn't make us uncomfortable.
Hopefully you have friends and family who love you enough to
walk through the door of your life and ask… “What stinks?” When they point something out, we can either trust them and start looking for the source, or we can dismiss
them and wait for the sin to continue to permeate our lives.
Once the source is found, we then allow God to come in and
remove the sin. Then He begins the task of cleansing, restoration, and healing.
He spiritually bleaches us with the blood of Jesus and we are forgiven. Our job is to avoid leaving dirty pots in the sink...or as Jesus said to the woman what was caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more."
So let me lovingly ask you today… ”What stinks?”
