2-22-2020

Good Morning All, 

        Psalm 103:12; “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us."

    When my wife and I were early in our marriage we lived in a trailer on the same farm as my parents.  It was your typical “starter trailer home”; it had thin walls and not the greatest windows.  One warm summer night, we started to smell something and that something smelled horrid.  It was pungent; skunky pungent.  In the morning, the smell was still there.  We looked out the window and about 10 feet from the back door was a dead skunk; a very dead, ripe, stinky skunk.  It was very unpleasant to be near the skunk so we wouldn’t use the back door.  We wouldn’t use the area and it was very disgusting.  In order to fix the situation, I had to scoop up the dead skunk with a shovel and haul it far, far, FAR away.  I even had to scoop up some of the dirt.  We poured some “perfumy”, good smelling stuff on the ground so it didn’t smell bad anymore.

    Getting rid of the stinky skunk wasn’t pleasant; but if we would have left it there, we would have never used our back door or that entire section of our yard.  We had to get rid of the stench in order to take our backyard back to our usage.  Sin is just like that; sin is a stinky, smelly thing.

    Our sin sits before God like a stinky, dead skunk.  That stinky skunk kept God away from us.  We were too repugnant to be in God’s presence.  This smell would never go away on its own; the only way for the smell to go is for the sin to go.  This is what God did; he removed your stinky sin from you, as far as the east is from the west. In order that you can stand before God and not be repugnant. God removed the sin by having the blood of Jesus remove it and replace the stink of sin with the sweet aroma of His righteousness.  That is how we can have a relationship with God, he removes the barrier, the awful stench; that prevented it.

    God tells us that we must do the same with those around us.  If we want a relationship with others, we must be willing to get rid of the stench.  When we allow sins that others commit against us to remain, they only serve to foul the area and make it unusable.  The stench keeps us apart.  It gets in the way because it keeps reminding us of the pain we once had.  It is better to forgive and get rid of the smelly problem.  By letting go of the sin that others did to us, by forgiving them, we get rid of the dead skunk.  Sin only separates us from relationships, both from God and others.  The only way to heal these relationships is to remove the sin.  God did this for us by having Jesus bear our sins and take them far, far, FAR away.  This frees us to see that this is the best way to deal with the stench; send it far, far, FAR away.

    Gracious Lord, you have removed our sins and the stench they cause in order to return us to your presence.  By this gift, you free us from the bandage of sin; you free us to forgive others and restore them to a loving relationship with us.  Guide those who refuse to throw away the dead skunk.  Show them the peace that is theirs through your gracious act.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret