The Cover UP
Posted by: ChewYokeChing <ChewYokeChing@...>
Something was wrong at school. Very wrong. It was only the bravery of my
oldest son that finally brought resolution. Of course, it was that same
son who actually caused the situation in the first place. Nevertheless,
he snapped into action, mustered up no small amount of courage and, yes,
he CLEANED OUT HIS LOCKER!
People teared up as they walked by. It wasn't emotion over his bravery.
It was some sort of gray fog that was looming over the locker. The stench
was causing the paint to peel.
The cleaning process was an adventure - maybe it was more of an
excavation. No, excavation isn't a strong enough word either. It was more
like a hostile confrontation. He might have been better prepared for the
battle if it were a military school locker. Still, I think we'd all be
pretty amazed, if not thoroughly grossed out, at the spoils of war a 9th
grader can acquire when he resolves to clean his locker. "So there's that
Government report." "Who put Ben-Gay in here?" "Hey, I remember when
these shoes fit!"
Andrew continued the onslaught on his locker until he finally sniffed out
the enemy. He found it sandwiched between a couple of stiff, brown socks
(Hey, wait a minute! I only buy him white socks). It was one of those
frozen pocket sandwiches. Needless to say, it was no longer frozen. It's
safe to say that it was no longer a sandwich either. It was green and
purple and slimy--the part that was still there, that is. Half of it was
gone--even though he hadn't ever eaten any of it. It just sort
disintegrated into that mysterious place where disgusting things go when
they die. The rest of it was still alive, but definitely injured.
Once he peeled away the socks, the stench moved the battle into more of a
chemical warfare mode. Even after Andrew hauled off the slime pocket, the
stench didn't seem to understand that its instigator was gone. The gray
fog still loomed. So Andrew fought the chemical battle the way most 9th
grade guys fight the battle of the stench. He poured half a bottle of
cologne in his locker. He ended up with a different battle - something
like Mold-zilla meets High Karate Kid.
Isnít that how we treat our sin sometimes? We ignore it until it just
won't be ignored anymore. And then we try to cover it over by
"over-cologning" it. We excuse it as a little boo-boo, an error in
judgment, or "just part of my personality." What we really need to do is
recognize that stench for what it is: sin. Then we need to hose out the
locker of our lives and start fresh.
Jesus is the only one who can clean up the stench. "If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Yes, He can purify even the stuff
we've left growing all semester.
Covering over our sin gets us nowhere. Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who
conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces
them finds mercy." He finds mercy. In some analogies, he may even find a
science project.
Contributed by Rhonda Rhea
(rrhea@juno.com)
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