The Stench of a Skunk

We were crossing the desert country of southern Wyoming. We were in the middle of a western camping trip and enjoying the peaceful beauty of the country. Other than some antelope in the distance there was nothing within miles. Well, I should have known better! Suddenly a skunk poked his head from behind a mound of sand and began to amble across the road.  Did you know that a Chevy Suburban can stop on a dime? I didn’t either but we did! The brakes were squealing and the kids were screaming.  Whew! Group exhale! All breathed a sigh of relief that we had escaped the stench of the dreaded black and white monster. Let me tell you, they might look cute on TV or in the zoo but not when they’re standing 10 feet in front of your truck, giving you the look of death. Suddenly, as if to say, GOTCHA, that wicked skunk looks over his right shoulder, bore right into my eyes with his seedy stare, smiled at me… and begins to raise that cute fluffy deadly tail.  You know what happens when a skunk raises its tail? It’s not good! Did you know that a Chevy Suburban (loaded with parents, 4 kids and pulling a pop-up camper) can go 0 to 90 mph in 4.3 seconds? Yeah, I didn’t either. But let me tell you, our silence turned into a loud scream as I stepped on the gas! We barely escaped the stench of the deadly skunk!

 That’s what sin is like.  We mess with it and get a little too close and even think its cute and tantalizing but unlike the skunk, we can’t escape its stench.  Be fairly warned, sin will always leave some mark on your life.  It’s not pretty.  It stinks and the stench impacts everyone in your life… sometimes even into the next generation and beyond.

 
My friend, hit the gas and run from it! If you are in Christ, sin has no power to master you.

Romans 6:14, We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Anchored in Grace,
Harrison