Bear, the Skunk, and the Fox

Well, it happened again last week. I was sitting watching television about ready to go to bed when it came breaking and entering into the house, permeating through the walls, and saturating my clothes like I just stepped into a steam room. It happened so suddenly, so quickly, I was stunned. It was so strong that when I took a big whiff (that’s hoosier for “to smell with the nose”)…I felt my nose burning inside, I kid you not!

At this point, I was about ten feet away from the doggy door and I thought “surely it didn’t come in through Bear’s door" (Bear is the name of our “rocket-scientist” dog). Immediately, my mind wondered what in the world would I do if I looked in Bear’s room and there it was? Would I yell? Run? Would it run? Would it panic and greet me like an alarming predator?

Nonetheless, I knew I had to peek and see if it was there. So I slowly creeped up to the four foot door that closes off Bear’s room from the rest of the house and carefully raised my head over the door to steal a look and sure enough there it was! Just kidding, Bear’s room was empty…thank God! So I quickly went in and closed off the doggy door. From there, I literally ran through the house slamming windows and the glass doors to the deck. I ran upstairs to push down the windows hoping to beat it from heartlessly overtaking Gabe and Annette who had been asleep for a couple hours. But it was too late. It had already been there and ruined the room.

“Oh, No!” I said to myself. Just that quick, it got us! I had no chance to defend my house, myself, or my family. I couldn’t believe it. It just seemed like we were its victims a few months ago and now here we go starting all over again. Of course, I knew who was to blame…who is always the instigator – Bear! So I decided I better find him and see if it got him too. So I turned on the deck lights, looked around and it was nowhere in sight. I stepped out quietly on the deck and gently called out to Bear. In a second, he came to the deck and sure enough it got him too.

Of course, Bear was as happy as always. He thought I called him to play or give him a treat. He was excited. I knew he had been playing with it because while I was watching television just a few minutes earlier I could hear Bear running around on the deck. But I really didn’t think anything of it until it overtook me in the house.

Well, a week later, while I am still sitting here with the residue of Mr. Skunk in my living room, I got to thinking about sin. Sin, like the skunk is nothing to play with. Sin like the skunk may look harmless and cuddly on the outside, but it can turn on you suddenly and spoil everything in your life. In my 40 years of serving Christ and 27 years of pastoring, I have seen sin overtake people like the powerful odor of skunk. Oh, they try to deny it and try to hide it, but it doesn’t work. It overwhelms them and there is nothing they can do about it.

Last week, my wife went on the Internet and learned that there is one thing that will keep skunks away and that one thing is the scent of a fox. Why? The skunk won’t go anywhere a fox has been because the fox is a natural predator of the skunk. So you guessed it, we hope we have outfoxed the skunks!

Did you know there is only one solution for the power of sin in your life? You can try all you want to get rid of it but only through the blood of Jesus can you erase sin and its power over your life. Matthew 26:28 states, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

I encourage you today to turn your life over to Christ. Acts 2:38 tells us to repent, and be baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins. You don’t have to go through life living with the guilt and under the power of sin. Through the power of Christ you can be free today!