Spewing Stink on Others

There is a skunk in my backyard. It’s dusk and he is under the low tree branches in the back, so he is a bit hard to see. I can make out his black body shape and still see the white stripe he has down his back. Ruth has mentioned recently she thought she has seen a skunk around. Now here he is, less than fifty feet away. I grab the hose, turn the water on, and slowly approach this varmint.

As I creep nearer he turns his head to look at me. His tail slowly begins to rise…

Skunks are funny creatures. Looking at them from a distance they are not at all ugly. Furry little animals, they almost look harmless. But we know better. Their horrific spray can travel up to ten feet. That oily liquid is hard to remove and can smell for days and days. It lingers. I recently saw a video clip of someone lifting up a piece of plywood in their backyard and surprising a skunk, which promptly sprayed the guy. He literally threw up over and over again because of the smell covering his legs and chest. We had a pet years ago that was sprayed. We couldn’t let it in the house for several weeks.

Many years ago I lost my temper at a friend and spewed all my anger at him. He didn’t deserve it, nor was my bad day his fault. But when he was within range I turned and let him have it. It was a terrible scene. He had my stink all over him. It hurt him and wounded our relationship. Even though I later apologized several times it took a while for the stink to wear off. Praise the Lord our friendship didn’t end over my spewing. He proved to be the bigger man.

We now live in a culture of ‘spewers’! Talking heads on TV and radio spew their thoughts and criticisms. Politicians, pastors, CEOs, even everyday citizens now feel free to spew. Bloggers, tweeters, people on Facebook or Instagram all get to voice thoughts and opinions about whatever pops into their minds. Anonymous comments spew thoughts about every article on homepages. It is crazy how many people find time to spew! Someone recently said that all this instant anonymous communication is a curse on our culture.

Too much of our time as Christians is spent spewing. We spew about a lot of things happening in our life and in our world. We spew about politics, about health care, about taxes. We spew about our difficult family members, our husbands, our wives. We spew about the difficulty raising our kids, their issues, and their needs that never seem to end. We spew about our finances, our neighbors, our bosses, our school, or our church. We spew to each other and even sometimes about each other.

Friends, things should not be this way. James says that if we can control our tongue we can control our whole body. Slow to speak, slow to get mad is God’s way. I love the poster someone put up in the entry way at church. It simply says, “Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it?” Good words.

As our nation moves toward becoming a culture of spewing, let us, as Christians, follow another path. The path laid out for us in Scripture; that we would only spew positive words, words that build up and are full of grace. No matter what the circumstance, let’s not give into the easy pattern of spewing. Guard your tongue from speaking the thoughts that come to your mind. If we can do this, there will be a lot less stink to wash off.

…I grab the hose and walk slowly toward the critter under the tree. I fire water at him. At first he does not move, but then slowly walks to the back corner and slides easily under the fence. I’m not getting any closer. I’ll let him be for now. No sense in risking the spray. I’ll do the same for my friends and family too; let things go and forgive. No sense risking the spray that smells awful and lingers for weeks.

Have your words been stinking up your world lately? Have your words been hard for others to get off of them? Let’s all strive to spew less and encourage more.

I love being your Pastor. See you on Sunday. Pastor Phil