About 6 years after Hurricane Katrina hit new New Orleans, twenty folks from my congregation went down there to help with the ongoing rebuilding. About half of those were in our Youth Group. It was a good trip. We worked hard and hopefully did some good. The guys all stayed in the same building, which was a shipping container that had been converted into a bunk house. One morning before we went to our job site, one of the boys thought it would be a good idea to place his dirty, sweaty, stinky socks over the air conditioner to dry out during the day. To say he stunk the place up would be a gross understatement. Thankfully, one of the guys had a bottle of Febreeze that he had used in the van—he’s traveled with teenagers before—and used that to mask the foul odor.
The sense of smell has a big impact on us, how we feel, our demeanor. It is just one of our senses, but it is a powerful and interesting one. The aroma of fresh baking is pleasant. The stench of rubber burning is not. The tone used to say “What’s that Smell?” clearly identifies whether one thinks it to be a pleasing smell or not. And the terminology used tells us the difference as well: aroma, fragrance, scent and bouquet are vastly different than odor, stench, stink and reek.
The importance of the sense of smell in our lives is evidenced by the number of products there are in our culture designed to enhance or mask or eliminate or cover up smells:
- body products such as perfume and deodorant and soap
- household air fresheners
- Fabric softeners and dryer sheets with all their fragrances
- Fresh smelling kitty litter
- automotive scent strips that hang from rear view mirror.
- even something you can put in your shoes to reduce foot odor.
When God speaks to us and communicates with us, He knows that we are sensual beings. He tries to communicate with us on our level, using things that affect our senses, things that we can relate to and understand.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
You and I are to be the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ, the aroma of Christ, to the world around us. Notice those are terms that describe a positive smell. God doesn’t want us to stink up the place. The aroma of Christ and the fragrance of life are the smell of something good. We are to diffuse around us a sweet perfume that permeates our surroundings. We do that when we are living the new life to which we have been called. We are the fragrance of life when we live each day in the confidence that comes from knowing that we have the forgiveness of sins because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. We “smell good for God” when we take to heart the knowledge of Christ as our Savior and believe the promise of life everlasting for His sake. Our actions reflect our faith.
Do you “smell good for God?” I’ll share more on this tomorrow.
