What's That Smell?

Have you ever wondered if you could pass God's smell test? Did you know He had a smell test?

I recently shared a "new" smell to Dozsar.  I caught this largemouth bass from our pond over the weekend.  Knowing that he had never seen (or smelled) a fish, I thought I would introduce him to this new fragrance.  It must not have smelled that great because he wasn't that interested.  Had that been a piece of steak, he would have gone nuts.  But, something must not have smelled right.  So, he did not accept it.  He lost interest.

I found these Scriptures below and found that our lives need to pass the "smell test" with God.  If something doesn't smell right, something just might be fishy.

The First Smell

"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 humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood'" (Genesis 8:20-21).

The First Smell Test

"Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord" (Exodus 29:18).

The New Covenant Smell

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 4:32—Ephesians 5:1-2).

The Use of Smell

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us 
to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).

So how do we create a good smell for God, and in turn, be used by God to spread the aroma of Christ? The answer is simple: sacrifice.

The sacrifices in Ephesians 4:32—5:2 are directed toward the interaction between believers. Admittedly, it's counterintuitive to think inside the church walls instead of outside. Galatians 6:10 tells us to "do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (emphasis added). When believers on the inside are sacrificially kind and forgiving to each other, following Christ's example to "walk in the way of love," they create a fragrance that God can use to attract outsiders.

Let the smell test begin.  Let's pray God doesn't smell something fishy...