“Pee-ew!” my four year old daughter exclaimed, dramatically waving her hand in front of her nose. “Daddy, the sandbox really stinks. The cats pooped in it a LOT!”

“But, haven’t you been playing in it for the last hour!?! You still played in it even though you knew it was full of poop? Isn’t Zane still in it???”

“Well…yeah.”

Sometimes—well, most of the time—I don’t know what my kids are thinking.

Would you play in a sandbox you knew smelt really bad, and that you could see was full of cat poop?

You have more sense than a four year old, right?

Of course you do.

Or do you?

As I was in the midst of judging my children, it occurred to me, don’t we choose to sin, even though we know it’s wrong? Even though it hurts us and those around us? Even though our sins stink to high heaven?

Holiness is a pleasing aroma to God, but sins stink up the place. God tried to drive that lesson home to Israel:

“I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the LORD (Amos 4:10).

Israel stank spiritually, so God made them stink physically. Unfortunately they didn’t take the hint.

My son and daughter were like Israel. The stench of cat poop filled their nostrils, but instead of taking the hint, they kept playing anyway.

Don’t be like that.

Think of your conscience like a nose for your spirit. If your conscience is, “Pee-ewing!” then stop what you’re doing.