“SOMETHING STINKS”

Now thanks be unto God, which always

causeth us to triumph in Christ, and

maketh manifest the savor of His

knowledge by us in every place.

For we are unto God a sweet savor of

Christ, in them that are saved, and

in them that perish.

II Corinthians 2:14,15

The human body is so full of miraculous wonders that most of them we can't even name. Most of us have learned what our seven senses are: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and oh yes, as society would feel a further need of improvement, we have two others I didn't even know about until now....vestibulary (in short, balance) and proprioception (having to do with body movement). Now you have had your education in our physical senses for the week. For now, I am interested in only one of those senses mentioned.

Brian and I had been married only a short time when I got word that my Mother had been in a car accident. Mother only sustained a bump on her head. However, my Mother soon learned that she had something disturbing as a result of the bump...her senses of smell and taste had been affected. For a long time everything tasted like burnt coffee and she had little sense of smell. She felt terribly disabled. Eventually things came back to some normalcy.

When I was quite young, I caught on quickly that my Mother had a very strong sense of smell. She could pass a woman in church and some steps later could name the perfume the lady was wearing. She could walk into any kind of building and say immediately what it smelled like. She could smell a dirty diaper even at some distance. I've been with her when we would walk into our house together and she would say, “Something stinks” and she usually found the problem right away.

I love our verses above regarding God's expectations of us. Both verses refer to sweet smells....the sweet aroma of Christ. That's what you and I are supposed to be, for God's glory. I've been around the sweetest of Christians and am blessed and encouraged. God is glorified because of their lives lived for Him. I also have to say that I've been around some “stinkin' Christians.” They may or may not be believers but their conversations and life styles do not exude the sweet aroma of Christ.

Have you noticed how smells can rub off on you. I've been around ladies who I knew just came out of a kitchen after frying up some chicken. They reeked with that wonderful aroma of lovingly prepared food. Some ladies perfumes rub off on us. The most important scent that can rub off on us is that sweet aroma of Jesus we get when we consistently spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer. Spiritually speaking, what do we smell like to other people we meet? Do we give off a wonderful aroma just being one of God's children. I hope so. We live in a world that needs Jesus any way He can get to them and not that of a godless culture that out and out “stinks.”

Dear Father, how I enjoy the sweetness of Your presence and special touches in my life. May I be quick to express my gratitude for Your influence in my life that You desire to rub off into the lives of me and others. In Jesus' precious name...Amen