You Smell Good

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by Frederick Drummond, Jr.

Now that's a great compliment. No one wants to smell bad, and so we all go out of our way to clean up, wear deodorant, and put on perfume so that we smell good in private and public. But did you know that according to the Scriptures your "smell" is more than odor? Yes, you have an aroma that is spiritual, that either stinks up or freshens up the room.

Because of the new creation message about the resurrected life, we are constantly being transformed from death to life in different areas of our lives as God raises us out of the adverse effects of sin.  Whether this involves our circumstances or our habits, our souls or our attitudes, wherever the death experience may be, God will raise us out of it, better off for it, if we allow Him. The message of the resurrection is that God raises the dead! He causes the apparent death situations to be a proving ground for tomorrow’s victories and promotions. Thanks be to our God Who is always causing us to triumph in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is through our attitude of faith, and our confidence in a delivering God, that our smell becomes a sweet-smelling savor. Jesus said we are the light of the world. Paul said that we are to God the fragrance of Christ.

God gives us a glimpse of this process in the following verse. He is glorified in us by our responses to Him as the circumstances of life take their toll. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." - 2 Corinthians 4:7-11

No one likes death or near death experiences, but they are the seeds of life for God’s children. Whether it is the death of a good idea, or saying no to what your flesh wants, or even a broken heart attached to great loss, we aren't supposed to smell like rotten flesh—bad meat! The Christian fragrance is a fresh, Christlike smell of life, the kind that puts hope in your heart and a smile on your face as well as everyone else's.

We have all been around people who in tough times want everyone to know what they are missing out on, with a "but I believe God" to punctuate their martyrdom. Sadly enough they bring unbelief and the smell of death into the room.  All too often the bad report is advertised with more confidence than what God has told them, if they have even asked for wisdom at all (James 1:5-7). What a downer. It doesn’t inspire confidence in God, great faith, or songs of praise that decorate the room with "My God is able!"

On the other hand we all love to be around Christians who have chosen to cultivate a marvelous attitude of faith contrary to negative circumstances. Their attitude of faith inspires us to believe, to trust, to place our confidence in God...to laugh at the lie, and to hear from God instead. Hallelujah for a sweet-smelling Christian, one who explains the world around them as God sees it from above because they are seated with Him in the heavenlies and have His perspective.

"For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death; and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?" - 2 Corinthians 2:15,16

What do you smell like? I know you have a flesh that is going through the death process at times, but do you have to smell like it? Dying daily doesn't mean we have to smell like death! Pee-yew—it stinks! You have a choice. To bear the sweet fragrance of resurrection power in your dying places, or let them fester with death in the devil’s lies. Choose the resurrection life! Choose to cultivate a confident attitude of faith and to speak the things that glorify the God you believe will raise up the Lazaruses and the Isaacs in your life.

Go ahead, choose to smell good!