Devotionals

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Have you ever had the experience of smelling someone from a distance? The stench of your seatmate's body odor on a train or bus, or the highly perfumed woman in a restaurant or at church? Her fragrance precedes her even before you can deduce the origin of the scent.
 
While returning from our family camping trip a few weeks ago, we stopped at the store to pick up some things for dinner. We undoubtedly smelled like dirt, sweat and campfire since the organized campgrounds were full and we ended up in a primitive roadside campsite, cooking over a fire and hauling water from the creek like the pioneers of old. We enjoyed the impromptu adventure and returned in good spirits but the other customers at the store may have had other opinions when they could smell us coming from a distance. On the other hand, the smell of coffee invokes warm memories of waking up at my Grandmother's house as a child to the fragrant aroma of coffee brewing downstairs. Then there is the first sign of Christmas in the grocery stores--the scent of cinnamon pine cones wafting in the air; or the unexpected whiff of an unseen field of flowers on a sudden breath of wind. Whether pleasant fragrance or odorous stench, smells can be your first hint of what lurks in your immediate vicinity.
 
In Genesis 8, Noah's act of worship brought a pleasing aroma to the Lord that caused Him to relent from His anger. "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: 'Never again will I curse the ground because of man.' “(Genesis 8:20-21) Many times the Old Testament describes the sacrifices and oils used in Temple worship as a sweet aroma to the Lord. Your worship is God's morning coffee. Its' fragrance is His favorite way to start the day! Hebrews 13:15 tells us, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name." If you go through the day with a spirit of praise and worship in your heart, God will be pleased with the fragrance of your spirit and your testimony of God's goodness, grace and power will precede you as a fragrant perfume and bless everyone around you. But, if you put yourself in a rut of anger, disappointment, frustration and resentment, blaming God for whatever you don't think is right or fair in your life and taking it out on anyone unfortunate enough to cross your path, you will give off a powerful spiritual stench that weighs heavily on everyone with whom you come in contact and damages your Christian testimony.
 
2 Corinthians 14-16 tells us, "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing , to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life." If we are to be the aroma of Christ to the world, shouldn't they smell us coming and draw close to our Lord and Savior? What is your spiritual aroma?
 

Prayer: Dear Lord, I confess that my spiritual aroma is not always as sweet as it should be. Help me to practice a heart of worship that brings others near to hear the good news of Your saving grace and loving goodness. As David writes in the Psalms, " May my prayer be counted as incense before You" rising to You as a pleasing fragrance. Thank you for being my sufficiency where I am weak. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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