I recently read an interesting story of a mama skunk that was constantly worried because her two four-legged kitty cat children were constantly getting into trouble. She had originally given them the odd names of In and Out. Whenever In was in, Out was out. And if Out was in, In was out.
One day Mama Skunk called Out in from out on a limb and told him to go out into the forest and bring In in. So, Out went out as he was told and in no time at all brought In in.
“Wonderful!” said Mama Skunk. “How, in all that great forest, could you find In in such a short time?”
“That was easy,” replied Out, “In-stinct!”
The moral of this odorous story? A skunk, even a young skunk, is going to do his thing. Sooner or later he is going to do what he was designed to do and for which he has earned a considerable amount of publicity and respect. You can count on it. Given the right circumstances it is going to happen. It is his nature. Even if you were to find two skunks in church one Sunday morning they would probably be sitting on the front spew with their heads bowed, as if to say, “Let us spray!”
The actions of people, like those of skunks, depend on what they have on the inside. The Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). In other words, the thoughts which occupy our minds automatically find expression through our actions. Thoughts are seeds which, when full grown, determine what we do. If we love people it will show; if we do not love them that will also show.
Returning to our original story, when In was out, it could have been because he was on the outs with In. They did not lose their individuality. But they had one tremendous thing in common going for them. When the chips were down, when there was a job to be done, they worked together. Their unity of effort gave off a certain air. They definitely altered their surroundings. All the other animals around them took notice of their presence. What they lacked in size, they made up “in-stinct!” They definitely alter their surroundings.
If there is any sense (not “scents”) or any application to be drawn from this “polecat tail” – I mean “polecat tale”, it is that those of us who are Christians have been given the responsibility and challenge to alter our surroundings. We adopt the standard of the world around us far too often. By letting the world squeeze us into its mold, we forget that Christ has given us the responsibility to be salt and light and leaven.
Mama Skunk asked Out to go out into the forest to find In and bring him in. Some of the last words Christ spoke to His disciples included a similar mission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Christian missionaries have been sent throughout the world to carry out this mission. Perhaps you have given funds to support them in their work. It may not be possible or practical for you to go to some faraway place to share the good news of the gospel. But you can go across or down the street to talk to a neighbor who does not know Christ as Savior and Lord. You can share your faith with a friend or coworker.
Have you done that? In the last year? In the last ten years? In your entire life? If not, why not?
The Paper Pulpit 
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