Something Stinks In Here

By Jim Hammond

Several weeks ago I traded cars with Gina so that I could drive her Van to the airport to pick up some friends.  Though, everything went well for me, apparently it didn’t for Gina.  When I came home, Gina told me my car stinks.  The next day when I drove my car, sure enough, it smelled awful.  I thought maybe it had been shut up too long in the hot sun and something got baked, so I decided to leave the windows open to let it air out.  The more I let it air out the more it stunk.  It got so bad; I was embarrassed to drive it.  One day, because I knew I was going to be taking a friend in the car, I decided I better buy some air freshener for the car.  I bought a bottle of stuff called “Mirage”.  It helped a little, but soon I realized the bottle was well named.  The help was only a Mirage.  I could still smell the foul smell hidden behind the heavily perfumed air.  I had been looking and looking to see what the problem might be but couldn’t seem to isolate it for more than a week.  Finally I could stand it no longer.  I tore the car apart.  I took the seat covers off.  I pulled the carpet in the cargo area, and then I found the smell.  A cat had been using my car as a urinal.   No wonder the more I tried to air the car out, the more it stunk.  I discovered this problem was not just one bladder full.  It was soaked in the spare tire well under the cargo area.  The carpet, the pressed board barrier over the spare tire well, and the heavy foam that was under the spare had been saturated. 

Why do I tell you this story?  Well, let’s see the illustration here.  Now, cats normally use the outdoors.   And normally it doesn’t bother us.  Presumably, our church parking lot is used often.  I can handle that.  It is a large open space and it doesn’t bother us too much.  But put me in the car the size of a Toyota, in a small closed setting and soon the stench is unbearable.  I found myself borrowing Gina’s car for everything. 

Is this not what happens to some small groups of a church.  It only takes the perfume of one Gloomy Gus or one Negative Nellie to mess up a small group. Soon people don’t want to come.  People don’t want to be confined in that small room with a pervasive negative atmosphere.  One person changes everything in that kind of setting.   Yes, Gloomy Gus, and Negative Nellie need to be loved, and accepted, and forgiven.  However, if you have a tendency to be gloomy Gus or Negative Nellie, let me help you.  Listen to Paul.  You will have much more company.  It isn’t enough for somebody else to pick you up and attempt to make things feel better for you.  That is only like that air freshener—“Mirage”.  Even in a room with nine positive people they will have a difficult time putting out enough perfume to cover over the negative stench.  You need to allow God to clean out your heart, so that you too, can Rejoice Always.  You too can pray continually.  You too can get washed.  Read 1 Thessalonians 5 again.

Our joy, prayers, and thankfulness should not fluctuate with our circumstances or feelings. Obeying these three commands—be joyful, keep on praying, and be thankful—often goes against our natural inclinations. When we make a conscious decision to do what God says, however, we will begin to see people in a new perspective. When we do God’s will, we will find it easier to be joyful and thankful.

Joy takes the burden out of service. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). God loves a cheerful servant as well as a cheerful giver. Every one of us has the potential to be a Gloomy Gus or a Negative Nellie.   Also, to be around a Gloomy Gus or Negative Nellie will affect you.  Soon you won’t feel like rejoicing either. They are not the people you naturally choose to be with.  Sure, they need ministry, care, and love, but they drain you, and hurt you.  O, Gus, and Nellie listen to these words.  They are the antidote to a disease which is causing your dis-ease.  This disease is causing the dis-ease of everybody around you, and it is contagious.  Be Joyful, pray continually, and offer thanksgiving.  Allow the Lord to change your patterns, your negative patterns, till people think of you as a Joyful person. 

You say, but I can't change how I feel.  I can't help it if I'm an honest person.  I'm just doing as you have always told me to do.  I'm just letting down my mask. 

Let me help you.  You can be honest without being constantly negative.  You can express your struggle without constantly being negative.  How?  By practicing the behaviors that Paul speaks here.  He is not asking you to change your feelings, but to change your behaviors and practices.  These are not feelings Paul tells you to have.  These are behaviors Paul tells you to practice.  Pray continually.  Give thanks.  And as James puts it, "Consider it a joy" (James 1:2).  Then you will find that your state of mind can change from gloomy, doubtful, and negative, to a state of Joy.  A deep settled trust.  God is sovereign.  He is at work.  He loves you.  He has not forgotten.  He is working for your best interest.

I had to spend hours with a hose, “Pine-sol”, “Resolve” carpet cleaner, and a scrub brush, and finally had my Toyota smelling sweet.  Only the Lord Jesus can clean out the problem of negativity that goes deep down within the heart.  Some “solutions” just don’t work.