SMELL OF THE WORLD
I wrote this many years ago and just yesterday I told the story again. It is worth sharing and reminding.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
I remember one of the best stories my dad told me about growing up on the farm concerned a time when he should avoided doing something and he didn't and he paid the price.
At that time the few cows they had on the farm grazed up in the woods freely during the day, especially in the fall when acorns were dropping. In the evening the boys would go up and chase them back to the barn for milking.
At about age 12 or 13 years old my dad was chasing the cows down from the oak ridge above the farm in the evening. The cows were running fast and gotten far ahead and dad was running at a pretty good clip and when he came over little rise, there in the middle of the trail was a skunk walking straight away from him, it's tail straight up in the air. Before he could consider what to do, my dad swept his foot back and brought it forward as if kicking a field goal. The skunk flew forward, leaving a putrid smelling yellow cloud behind in it's wake.
The sticky yellow substance released by that skunk went up dad's pants leg and embedded itself in his clothing and on his skin.
Dad could have jumped over or went around that skunk and avoided getting covered in the skunks stink. But instead he made contact and he paid for it.
Going through life we meet many people. Some become life-long friends and some relationships are short-lived.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14 Paul wrote to the church of Corinth
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?"
Quite often we think of these verses to speak of marriage or business relationships, but I've always been taught, and was reminded on Sunday, that this verse speaks to who we spend any lengthy amounts of time with.
In high school a local youth pastor explained it to us this way, "if you take a white glove and throw it in a mud puddle, the puddle won't become clean, the glove becomes dirty.
As part of Christ's family we need to be in the world. Jesus Himself was with people all the time that didn't believe He was the son of God. But He had His close friendships with people that loved Him and shared the same values. Like Jesus we need to be in the world, but not of the world.
We have been told that we need to share the love of Jesus Christ to "all the world"... but that doesn't mean that we become like them and participate in their ungodly actions. As we go down the "trails" of life we need to avoid spending much time with those people that will leave us "smelling badly" later on. It's OK to come close and spend some time with those that don't feel as you do. But remember, we must stay in the light and out of the darkness. We must avoid stinky situations.
Some good advice from my dad goes a long ways. "Stay too close to a skunk and you'll end with the same smell.
Protect your heart.
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