Don't Be A Stinker!!!

This morning on the way to the office I stopped at a Valero station to fill up (I always like to wait until gas goes up 10 cents OVERNIGHT before I buy).

As I exit my car, I catch the smell of what I think is bacon (McDonalds is in this station). After just a few seconds at the pump the initial fragrance has become quite flagrant, assaulting my senses. I don't know if it is the clouds on this overcast day that are pressing the odors down on us or what, but the "bacon" smell is really rancid, nothing that would make your mouth water (which is good for me since my mouth waters too much and my taste buds follow through waaaay too much).

The odor is nasty...by the time I've finished at the pump I'm trying to hold my breath until I can jump back into the car. It is absolutely sickening. (Now I'm thinking about going by there every morning as a way of suppressing my appetite).

As I got into the car, thinking about the smell, I thought of certain cities I have been in on mission trips that had a "distinctinve" (sickening) aroma. Some places have a smell you can never forget (especially small blue places - can I get an A-men from Elaine Hinson?).

Now I don't know why my mind goes these directions, but as I thought about some of the noxious cities I have been in, I wondered what the world must have smelled like to Christ. I don't mean the cities He was in and the smells that you can pick up with your physical sense. I wonder what it smelled like spiritually. Surely He had a spiritual sense of smell. He could see the spiritual condition of people (Matthew 9:35ff). Could He smell it? Could He smell the death around Him? Were there some areas/people that smelled worse than others? He did say the Pharisees were like white-washed tombs - looked good on the outside but filled with stinkin' death and decay inside.

My experience reminded me of the words penned by Paul in II Corinthians 2:14-16: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life..."

I wonder what I smell like to Him. I wonder how I smell (spiritually) to the people around me - those in the office, my neighbors, those I do business with (the waiters at Mi Ranchito). Am I stinkin' up the places I go or am I a fresh breeze, the fragrance of life? That Valero station could have used a fresh breeze this morning - that would have gotten my attention. No one wants to hang around a smelly place if they don't have to be there.

Lord, help me to carry the aroma of life, the freshness of Christ to the people and places I go. Assault my senses from time to time with stinking smells to remind me of the importance of being a pleasing aroma. Help me to not be a stinker!