Lessons from a Trash Bag

The other evening the trash in our pantry was full so I grabbed the two plastic handles and pulled it up out of the can. I tied it up to take out and then reached down to grab a new bag out of the box to replace the old one.

As soon as I pulled it out, I noticed an intense smell. No, it wasn’t garbage or rotten food. There was an awesome floral aroma. It was actually really pleasant. I even inhaled deeply to take it in.

How clever of the garbage bag people to somehow put perfume into the plastic of a trash bag to attempt to overcome or disguise the stench of trash. The great news here is now you have to produce some really stinkin’ garbage to even worry about a smell in your pantry.

Isn’t this exactly what our culture is doing? Slowly adding more perfume to overcome the smell of what is actually rotten? And the worse the world becomes, we just add more perfume to mask the stench.

But here’s the real challenge … we have to make sure our own sin doesn’t start to smell sweet to us so we no longer realize its just as rotten as everyone else’s. No matter how much perfume you dump on it, trash is still trash and it needs to be kicked to the curb, out of our house, out of our lives.

For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. —Philippians 3:8 NLT

           




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