I have a Blue Healer that likes to chase, capture and kill things that come into “his” yard. Recently, on a Sunday morning while I was getting ready for church, he went after a skunk that was trespassing.

He caught the skunk.
He killed the skunk.
Then proceeded to roll around on said skunk.

My husband looked outside and saw him in the yard rolling around and thought “oh isn’t he cute rolling around in the yard” and then he noticed that he was tossing something up into the air then rolling around on it again. He was repeating the pattern when my husband realized that it was a skunk. He had to go out, put our dog up and clean up the mess.

In the meantime, our dog Buddy evidently got sprayed by the skunk. He reeked of the most terrible smell, and if you have ever had a dog or other animals get sprayed by a skunk you know just what I mean and how terrible it smells. And you may have learned like I have that there is nothing that will remove the smell. I do not care what they sell on the market. I do not care what home remedies they tell you, I have not found anything to get rid of this smell. So, what we do is let our dog stay outside and get the smell off himself. He seems to do a much better job than anything I have tried in the past. He got into the pool a few times and he rolled around on the grass and a day later he still reeks of a horrible smell. Day two and three are not much better but either the smell is fading or I am getting accustomed to it.

This horrible smell reminds me of something else…sin. The stench of the smell reminds me of what sin must smell like to God. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we are all sinners, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And I would imagine our sin is a very putrid smell to God. To us, it may seem that the sin isn’t so bad and we have basically been able to continue in a sin where we have not been caught or a sin that may not be a catchable offense but a practice that is unholy to God’s standards but we have done this sin for so long that it doesn’t seem wrong. Like the smell of my dog after a day or two, I am getting accustomed to the stench and do not mind it as much. This is why we cannot measure sin by human standards but by Gods standards. God tries to protect us from sin and the enemy.

He gives us boundaries.
He gives us his Word.
He guides and directs us with the Holy Spirit.
And yet we still sin or at least I know I do.

I’m tempted to be annoyed with my dog for catching, killing, and getting sprayed by the skunk—and especially for smelling so awful. But I am reminded that I am no different to God. The stench of my sin is no different and so today I would invite you, just as I invite myself every day, to confess before God that I am a sinner saved by Jesus Christ because of the blood shed on the cross to cover my sins. In Jesus, we can be made clean. Our sins can be wiped away, and we can be a new creation, made righteous because of Jesus. So instead of leaving a stench in the air, may we allow the Holy Spirit to use us as a fresh fragrance spreading the grace and love of Jesus Christ wherever we go today.

But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?  2 Corinthians 2:14-16