2 Corinthians 2:14-16 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”

I recently watched a film where in one scene, one of the villains shows up inside an old, ruinous, broken down cathedral. Inside the walls of this cathedral there is a green garden full of life and flowers. The villain walks into the middle of this pastoral scene, smells the scent floating on the air and says that the smell is disgusting! He did not like the smell of new life.

Smells are everywhere in this season of springtime: the smell of freshly mown hay. the oder of newly relieved cattle, the scents of the first backyard barbeques of the year, the freshness after a rainfall, the muskiness of stored clothing being aired out in preparation for summer. Smells encompass us, and so we can turn and think about the smells of God.

The Bible is full of ideas about tastes and sights and even smells! God asks us to be a pleasing aroma to those around us. Why should we be a pleasing aroma? Can't they smell us? Quite frankly in most cases, no! Sin is a stench. Foul smelling as it is, most people do not recognise it. The stink of sinfulness is much like an offensive body oder or bad breath. The person doesn't know they have it, they can't smell it, they don't notice it! Others do notice it however. We as Christians are filled with God's holiness and scent. We also do not notice it unless it is pointed out. We become so used to it that it is normal!

Frequently though there are people to whom the fragrance of Christ is sickening. They can smell the rot in their own life and they try to mask it with deodorants and perfumes and lotions. They see the lack in their own life and they fill it with yoga, new age mysticism, Buddhism, materialism, etc. They try and mask their oder with something else, but it never works. They will avoid anything to do with Christ because they want to be able to change their scent for whatever suits them. The cologne of today can be exchanged for the aftershave of tomorrow, which can be exchanged for the deodorant of the day after, all according to the whims and vagaries of the popular world. The way to smell of Christ is through being deep cleaned in the hyssop of His blood.

One of my former teachers tells the story about one of his first dates. The girl came out of the house when he arrived to pick her up for their night out, but the only thing he could say after he saw her was “You smell good” she was that breathtaking to him. As Christians, our lives should be lived in such a way that people will stop and stare at us and come up and say “You smell good” (spiritually speaking) due to our relationship with Christ. We should also be willing to take the time to explain to them why we smell good.

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,
In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
Thy being and Thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor e’en the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part!