SKUNK army
What do our sins ‘smell like’ to God?
Image by sipa from Pixabay
We know that God can’t tolerate sin – that By Scott Riggan it is an “offense” to him. So maybe we should I awoke at 3:30 in the morning, suddenly think of it this way: sin is a stench in the aware that we had a visitor at our house. A very nostrils of God. unwelcome visitor: a skunk. Yes, I just typed the phrase “nostrils of God.” Now this happens occasionally out in the But stay with me for a minute. Our sins are an country where we live, but this time the stench offense. Like, perhaps, the smell of a skunk. was unbelievable. It was so bad I thought I was I think sometimes we imagine that God is going to be sick. I jumped out of bed to close looking down from Heaven, watching all of the window – but the window was already the hijinks we get up to and saying, “Oh, those closed. It was almost as if the skunk had gotten naughty rascals. I wish they would just behave.” into the house – it was that bad. But we figure He’s not really bothered much by I don’t know much about skunks, but as our sins. Certainly not the “little” ones. incredibly foul as the smell was, I wondered: do We need – no, I need to – remember that it skunks travel in packs? Because we couldn’t be was because of my sins that Christ died. God dealing with a single individual. … This had to doesn’t regard sin casually. He takes it very seriScott Riggan be the work of a skunk army or something. ously. We know this because of the very costly I think most of what I know about skunks way He arranged for our forgiveness through Christ. My “little comes from the movie “Bambi.” Remember that cute little lie” may not have hurt anybody, but my integrity takes a hit skunk named Flower? I now have reason to suspect that this every time I’m willing to be less than honest. depiction may have been mere fiction. After the skunk incident, I asked my young kids to help me Lying there in bed I started wondering: how can a skunk paraphrase Isaiah 1:18 (“Though your sins are like scarlet, stand itself ? Does it just get used to the smell? Or does it actuthey shall be as white as snow”) and they came up with: ally like it? Maybe for a skunk that smell is actually pleasant – “Though your sins stink like a skunk, they shall be made to like smelling roses or pine trees. We perceive the smell as Pure smell like roses” (my son Josiah), and “… made to smell like Evil Nastiness, while they perceive it as a beautiful aroma? molten chocolate” (my daughter Emily) and “… cookies bakSEEMINGLY UNRELATED CONFESSION: A couple of ing” (Josiah again). weeks ago, I told a very small lie. Thankfully, God does forgive us for our failures. And He is I was talking to a complete stranger who asked me an continually shaping us into His image. extremely personal question. I could’ve just said, “Hey now, Lord forgive us for our casual attitude about the things that that’s off limits, dude…”, but instead I gave him an answer to offend You. n shut him up. I lied. And, I have to admit, that lie really didn’t bother me much. Scott Riggan lives with his family on a small ranch in EmSo I was thinking about the fact that I didn’t seem to feel mett. He recorded a new album in 2021 titled “Beautiful guilty about that lie, which then raised the question: how seriand Terrible.” Go to scottriggan.com for more information. ously do I take sin?
34 May / June 2022 | Christian Living
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