August 23, 2007
What stinks?
3:40 PM | Posted by
The Cornerstone Ranch Missions
Don't you just love it when God gives you a spiritual insight through the most common, ordinary things? I do. Well today I had a little insight the Lord gave me driving home from dropping the kids off at school. The trip takes me along quite a few back roads and on one of these roads I came across the unfortunate remains of a skunk lying on the side of the road.
Actually, this is the fourth day that poor skunk was laying there. The first day we passed it, the familiar aroma of skunk soon found its way into the truck. P.U. Not a smell any of us are fond of. The second day we passed it I wondered if the familiar smell was still there. Yep. As strong as ever. The same with the third day and today. The question came to my mind, "How long can that thing keep smelling so bad?" I have a feeling it will keep on smelling until someone buries it or it gets washed away.
What God showed me was that the poor dead skunk was a lot like my old dead self. Paul reminds us in the book of Romans that we are a new creation in Christ, the old man is dead, replaced by the new one in Christ. So any of us that have accepted Jesus as Lord are born again in Him. That means something else died. Our old nature. Our old self.
Just like that skunk, my old flesh smells pretty bad. As long as I keep it around, I can still feel the effects of that smelly old dead flesh. It's dead, but it can still affect me. The awful aroma of it can still influence my behavior if I let it. Because it's dead, it can't do anything. It has no power of it's own. It will stay in that one spot forever and the only way I'll smell it is to go back to where it is and sniff. I don't ever have to smell it again unless I choose to. It can do nothing except remind me of the nastiness my old self was able to produce.
The truth is, I am able to choose to go home another way and avoid that skunk completely. He can't follow me anywhere, he's dead. So is my old flesh. Unless I choose to go to him, the skunk cannot stink up my life anymore! I think God allows us to smell the nasty skunk once in a while to remind us just how nasty it smells!
Every time I pass that skunk now, I am reminded just how nasty those little varmints can smell and how much I never want to smell one again. I think that is what God has been showing me about my old flesh. He is teaching me to look at my old nasty flesh in the same way. I don't want to be around it any more either.
I thank the Lord for little reminders in the most unusual places that He sends me to remind me who He is, and how much he has done for me. I pray the Lord will send you all a little reminder today of who you are in Him and how much He loves you too.
God Bless,
Mark
Actually, this is the fourth day that poor skunk was laying there. The first day we passed it, the familiar aroma of skunk soon found its way into the truck. P.U. Not a smell any of us are fond of. The second day we passed it I wondered if the familiar smell was still there. Yep. As strong as ever. The same with the third day and today. The question came to my mind, "How long can that thing keep smelling so bad?" I have a feeling it will keep on smelling until someone buries it or it gets washed away.
What God showed me was that the poor dead skunk was a lot like my old dead self. Paul reminds us in the book of Romans that we are a new creation in Christ, the old man is dead, replaced by the new one in Christ. So any of us that have accepted Jesus as Lord are born again in Him. That means something else died. Our old nature. Our old self.
Just like that skunk, my old flesh smells pretty bad. As long as I keep it around, I can still feel the effects of that smelly old dead flesh. It's dead, but it can still affect me. The awful aroma of it can still influence my behavior if I let it. Because it's dead, it can't do anything. It has no power of it's own. It will stay in that one spot forever and the only way I'll smell it is to go back to where it is and sniff. I don't ever have to smell it again unless I choose to. It can do nothing except remind me of the nastiness my old self was able to produce.
The truth is, I am able to choose to go home another way and avoid that skunk completely. He can't follow me anywhere, he's dead. So is my old flesh. Unless I choose to go to him, the skunk cannot stink up my life anymore! I think God allows us to smell the nasty skunk once in a while to remind us just how nasty it smells!
Every time I pass that skunk now, I am reminded just how nasty those little varmints can smell and how much I never want to smell one again. I think that is what God has been showing me about my old flesh. He is teaching me to look at my old nasty flesh in the same way. I don't want to be around it any more either.
I thank the Lord for little reminders in the most unusual places that He sends me to remind me who He is, and how much he has done for me. I pray the Lord will send you all a little reminder today of who you are in Him and how much He loves you too.
God Bless,
Mark
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