When I was little, I had a seizure that came with a nauseating smell. Although I didn't have any more seizures until years later, I've occasionally had that sensation of a smell I can't describe.
I had parts of a book for a psychology class read to me while in college. The author said the sense of smell was a spiritual thing and likened it to worship. The author also said smell can't be described without comparing it to something else that has the same or a similar smell.
Paul says we are the smell of life. If we truly please God, we smell the same to other Christians. But we're also the smell of death to those who don't know Christ, or don’t want to know Him. At the end of the verse, Paul asks, "Who is sufficient for these things?" In ourselves, we aren't, but with God's help as we do our part, we can be.
It's humiliating to lose our witness for the Lord. The most embarrassing thing is what it does to God's name. We should live in such a way that unbelievers want to know what's different about us.
Although we can't be perfect, we should strive to be more like Christ so we’re not a stench in people's nostrils. Ruining our witness may turn others away from God.
Ask God to help you be a good witness for Him so you can be a blessing to others and so you won’t smell bad to those who want to know Jesus as their Savior.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Darrell Waters loves Jesus and wants to please Him in all he says, thinks, and does. He is legally blind and disabled but feels that devotional writing is his calling in life. Darrell sings in the choir and also specials on a singers' list in Sunday services as well as on Wednesday nights.