Some would rather not talk about sin, but we know not only how serious sin is but also how precious forgiveness is.

One summer a skunk family set up housekeeping in our backyard. They lived in the unoccupied lot behind our garden shed, and each morning skunks were out on our lawn digging for grubs. When we opened the back door, we could smell them, but they couldn't smell each other. They were used to the odor.

What if sin had something like a skunk smell attached to it? What if God somehow could make us smell just how offensive every sinful thought, word, and deed really is to him? Would we then begin to realize how serious sin is? As God's children who want to live according to our Father's will, we know what God says of sin. But we need the reminder. We need to hear again that we are to be definitely different when dealing with sin.

RECOGNIZE SIN FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS

Sin has lost much of its smell for many in our day. Our world is so sin-saturated and yet so little sin-conscious that it accepts sin as a normal way of life. "Everybody's doing it," people say. "Why shouldn't I?" "Things change," they say, "and you had better get with the flow." In their estimation, living together without marriage is not a sin problem but only adopting a cultural change. Practicing homosexuality isn't wrong but only following an alternate lifestyle. Aborting the unborn isn't taking a life but only giving women a choice. Many are so used to the smell of sin that it no longer is offensive to them.

Others may agree that sin indeed has an odor, but it's not that offensive. Some churches eliminate that serious word sin almost completely. They claim that people aren't turned on with sermons that strike the conscience and smite the sinner. It's far easier and safer to tell people what they want to hear. They spray the deodorant and mask the stink of sin.

Still others try to hide their sins. They attempt to cover up the footprints of their selfish deeds and put dress gloves on the fingers of their greed. They point at others and congratulate themselves for not being sinners like them. They become so adept at hiding their sins that they almost fool themselves into believing that sin's odor is not sticking to them.

David knew some of these tricks too. For a time he ignored the voice of his conscience when it accused him of impregnating another man's wife and then murdering her husband. But it didn't work. He knew too well what a holy God had said about sin. In Psalm 32 David wrote, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. . . . Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity" (vv. 1,2,5).