How Ya' Smellin'?

Ever had a time when you were hot and sweaty? You had worked really hard; muscles straining; teeth gritted; and sweat pouring off your body? And when you got done, relaxed just a little you noticed something. Something doesn’t smell right. To be honest, something stinks…….and it’s you!

I've heard some folks who have done this make the claim that by the time they hit the shower, they could hardly stand themselves. I’m pretty sure this is not part of the plan to win friends and influence people.

I wonder if that was what Paul had in mind when he wrote 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 ""But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life."

I suppose the truth of the matter is that all of us have a unique smell…..er …..aroma. I've walked into rooms after certain individuals have entered and could smell their cologne or their perfume. I knew they were there or had been there without seeing them. I could smell them.

I've also hadhandshakes and hugs from folks that left me smelling like their perfume or cologne. Sometimes to be honest, it was pleasant while at other times I've started sneezing. (I'm a sensitive kind of guy to some of those aromas…….not the hugs just the smells)

Smells are great reminders as well. I can smell certain foods being prepared and immediately be taken back to my childhood standing in one of my grandmother’s kitchens. This past Christmas Day, my boys asked their grandmother to fix fried chicken for our Christmas Dinner. Standing in the kitchen, enjoying the smell of my mom's fried chicken took me back to my childhood when we ate so much fried chicken because it was cheap meat. But when mom got done fixing it, it was a meal fit for a king…..at least one who wasn’t' too concerned about eating fried foods. But I digress……and search for my cholesterol pills……there they are…..next to the bacon.

Physically each of us has a unique odor about us. We also have a spiritual aroma about us. How we smell is up to us. We can be the aroma of God….a pleasing aroma to Christ or I guess we can smell like the burning sulfur of hell. The choice is always ours. How we choose to live our lives will dictate the aroma we emit.

Peter, the fisherman, wrote in his letter that we should "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." (1 Peter 2:12)

He also wrote, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." If you will allow me to paraphrase this verse, it might read as, "always be prepared to explain why you smell so good to those who are used to the bad smells of this life."

Let’s change the way our world smells. Let’s be the aroma of Christ…..the smell of life and not the smell of death.

So, the question still stands……how ya' smellin' ?

Always in Pursuit!