When food in your fridge has gone bad, you know the moment you open the door. And it's the same with our lives. Have you ever met someone for the first time and just felt there was something a bit 'off'? People can often sense when they come into contact with someone who's carrying sin that hasn't been dealt with.

Jesus spoke some harsh words to Peter: ‘Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s’ (Matthew 16:23 NLT). Peter’s sin was pride. He openly contradicted Jesus (see Matthew 16:22). There are sins of the spirit and sins of the flesh. Peter’s sin was one of the spirit, whereas David’s was one of the flesh that showed itself in adultery and murder. Later David wrote, ‘Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me’ (Psalm 19:12-13 NKJV). God doesn’t want us to become so self-absorbed and introspective that we're constantly condemning ourselves, but He does want us to learn to be sensitive to sin and deal with it immediately.

The Bible gives us three ways to stay clean in a spiritually polluted world:

1) Walking in the light (see 1 John 1:7). That means striving to be honest in everything we do.

2) Being accountable. We each need someone in our lives who's mature and trustworthy, gracious enough to put up with our faults, and honest enough to confront us if we're wandering off God’s path (see Ecclesiastes 4:9).

3) Dealing with your sin right away (see Psalm 32:3-5). When we become conscious of sin, it should lead to a confession of sin, which will result in cleansing of sin. Then we must get back up and go on with God!

What Now?

Whenever you become conscious of a sin or a step away from God in your life, use that awareness as a signal to tell God about it and begin to deal with it, with His help.