"For we are unto God a sweet (smelling) savour of Christ…" 2 Corinthians 2:15
I sniffed. I was getting a whiff of something foul. What was that! It was the kind of smell that made you unconsciously screw up your face and set your mouth in the classic caricature of disgust. Whew! It was bad! This was what you could truly call a "stench" and every adjective you could think of to go along with it - malodorous, fetid, rank, putrid… you get the idea. The air was heavy with the smell – the strength of it made it almost tangible. All I wanted to do was to get away from it as fast as I could.
Sin is a stench in the nostrils of God. Imagine that the same way you would recoil or back away from a bad smell is the same way God retreats from sin. He loves us with an everlasting love, yes, but he is a holy God and sin cannot tarry in His sight. A nurturing mother loves her baby in spite of snotty noses and dirty diapers but even a mother will quickly find a way to clean the filth off her child. The smell of excrement does not lend itself to warm embraces!
A fragrant odor, on the other hand, motivates you to get closer. A dank smell will cause you to breathe shallowly or even hold your breath. But a sweet-smelling scent pleasurably arouses your senses and prompts you to inhale deeply and enjoy the aroma.
God wants to enjoy us…don’t hinder His pleasure with sin. Continually ask God to reveal any sin that may be in your life. In Psalm 19:13, David pleads with God, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me…" He is saying, "Lord help me not to be careless, inattentive or slack concerning the guidelines you’ve established for me to live by." He didn’t want to impertinently go forward in anything that may not have been God’s will because the bible also says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12 ) To purposely walk in sin is to walk in death and to walk in death is to take a stroll out from under the protective covering of God. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1) God desires us to stay in close, intimate fellowship with Him. Can God snuggle up close to you and not be offended by your smell? A daily washing in the Word is needful if we are to be a sweet smelling savour to God.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm 119: 11)
All Scripture is from the King James Bible
From the 'Can I Get An Amen?!' story collection
What Is That Smell?! (c) 2003 Edwina Frazier
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