Not Stinky But Dirty Nonetheless

Several weeks ago I came to the realization that my car was badly in need of an oil change.  With my wife unavailable to give me a ride back and forth in the other car I decided to take advantage of the opportunity take the dog with me and leisurely jog the couple of miles back home instead of going on our normal morning run.  Upon arriving at home, however, I was immediately thrust into the demands of incoming phone calls to answer and minor crises to attend to.  Next thing I knew the shop was calling to tell me the oil was changed, the tires were balanced and rotated and it was ready to be picked up.

Admittedly, I had not thought through my plan well but either way I had to make a choice, go back to the garage still stinky from our run or shower first and risk getting hot and sweaty on the walk back.  I chose the former, but with one small change.  I decided what I would do to make it seem less offensive was to spray on a bunch of cologne on my formerly sweat-soaked body.  I figured if I would also put a different shirt on and comb my hair a little then no one would notice.

Well, it worked.  I walked to the shop without encountering anyone on the street, no one at the shop looked at me funny and the service writer was so busy answering the phone and attending two other people at the same time that he wouldn't have noticed if I had been a martian let alone whether my cologne was covering some underlying foul smelling.

The funny thing is though, I did notice.  I spent all 5 minutes in the shop with the worst case of self-conscious nerves I have ever experienced.  Every ten seconds I was sniffing the air around myself or looking at myself in any reflective surface to see if my appearance was giving me away.   I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Which teaches us an important spiritual lesson.  You may be able to fool others about your smell but deep down you know you are really smelly and dirty.  That's right.  You and I really do stink, spiritually speaking.  It's called sin.  And despite the fact that it may not be politically correct to call others out on their imperfections we are all keenly aware of our own.  And they are many indeed.

Now to make matters worse eventually we come to the conclusion that there isn't anything that we can do to remedy the situation either.  We can try to cover the smell and put on nice clothes but deep down we know we are dirty and no amount of cologne can change that.  Isaiah 64:6 says that we are an "unclean thing" and "our righteousness is as filthy rags."

So what are we to do?  The only thing we can do is go to God.  Our only hope is to pray the publican's pray, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18:13)  Any attempt to do otherwise would simply be playing the pharisee.

Take your sin to God, my friend.  Be honest with yourself and Him about your condition.  Confess your spiritual need and He will "forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)