Solving the Stink
by Joe Leavell
Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels
If you have ever been around an area that has skunks, then just the mention of the animal is usually enough to trigger a vivid memory of the powerful and horrible smell from these little critters! So potent is a skunk’s spray that it can be detected by the human nose up to a mile downwind or farther. Where does the smell come from? When a skunk feels threatened, it has a very effective built in defensive gland that produces a potent smell that effectively ensures the skunk does not end up on a predator’s dinner menu.
Here’s a question for us: if you were ever unfortunate enough to scare a skunk and it sprayed you, what caused the skunk to smell bad? Well, it kind of depends on how you look at it. In one sense, as the agent that threatened the skunk you could say that it is your fault that the skunk targeted you specifically. Yet did you cause the smell that came from the skunk to be rancid? No. The skunk put out a rotten smell because it possesses the necessary biology inside of it to make it do so. You did not put those stinky chemicals in the skunk. They were there from birth and used by instinct. If those properties were removed, the skunk would no longer smell bad. In this way, it is the skunk’s internal makeup that actually causes the stink, not you. Is that a matter of semantics? Not in the slightest!
It may not be common knowledge, but apparently there are actual people out there who keep skunks as pets! Pet shops that sell skunks thankfully have the glands that produce the stink removed when they are babies. Imagine, however, that you are the owner of a pet skunk that has not had its scent glands removed, and it keeps spraying you and your family on a regular basis. You (and the neighbors) are obviously sick of the smell! So, you visit the vet (who has a plug over his nose because you smell like something died) and demand that the vet help with the stench. “Ridiculous!” you cry as the vet suggests says that in order to fix the problem the glands must be removed. “That’s offensive that you think there is a problem with my skunk! He just needs an accepting environment not some judgmental vet! Maybe he just needs behavioral or affirming classes that will teach him how to control the smell.” What more then can the vet do to really help but to give soaps and perfumes to minimize and mask the smell as best as possible?
Obviously, that’s a conversation that is never going to happen, but isn’t this how we tend to deal with many of our own problems as well? Our desire is not to fix the fundamental issue that is causing the stench, but to help keep the odor inside. We see the problem as our environment, a lack of education or behavior training, or worse that people are just unaffirming of our stench. People need to value our odor because we’re proud of who we are.
What’s the Source of the Smell?
We often do not want to see the actual problem solved but simply desire help in managing our external problems that we think cause our stink. When we recognize an unpleasant smell, whether it is with anger, lust, jealousy, lying, etc., our first inclination is to look outside of ourselves to find the source of the problem. The common culprits are our upbringing, our ungrateful spouse, work stresses, fatigue, etc. Yet, does the problem come from someone or something else causing us to stink, or are they merely the stress that was put on us that let out a little bit of the stench that was already in there?
Jesus tells us in Luke 6:43-45,
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Again, Jesus says in Matthew 15:18-20a,
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”
Similar to the skunk, Jesus indicates in these passages and elsewhere that our problem is not working hard to keep our outside clean. We have a problem on the inside and the fruit of our actions are products of an active heart. When our values are threatened, what is on the inside comes out to protect what we hold dear and it either will come out smelling fresh or putrid, depending on what is on the inside. So, regardless of your skills in managing your stink, the core issues of the heart of who you are as a person can never be affected by behavior modification. Only Jesus has the power to stop the stink!
Heart Surgery
At BCA, we cannot fundamentally change a person’s heart with any more skill than we could manage surgery on a skunk. Our role is to point you to Christ and encourage you to submit to soul surgery from God that will fundamentally give you that changed heart. God alone promises that for those who place their faith in Him, He will “give you a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26). In this way, God’s desire is not simply to mask our bad smell or try to help us manage our issues, but to essentially change us from the inside out.
“The beautiful thing about the Gospel is that Jesus is not only the heart specialist, He is also the donor. He died for our sin, was buried, and rose again so that we could be given new hearts! ”
In this way, when someone comes to us for counseling, we are not simply seeking to help them manage their heart problems more effectively any more than we would help a pet owner help manage a skunk’s smell. Our desire is that a fundamental removal of the stink would take place which is a work only God can do as we submit to Him and His Word. We do not simply need stink management. We need real heart transformation which is found only through Christ.
For further study:
Idols of the Heart - by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Good and Angry - By David Powlison
A Small Book for the Anxious Heart - by Ed Welch
