Cover up

Written by Rhonda Rhea

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!”

Always late? Take our time management Life Lesson
Are you struggling in your work life?: Talk to a mentor

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.

Isn’t 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.

Do you need to clean-out some things in your life? Read how confession can be both a relief and necessity and how you can be healed from jealousy and resentment that has never been dealt with.