"And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma" Genesis 8:21a
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." 2 Corinthians 2:14
These verses are what I read this morning after asking God this question: Why can't I quit falling into the same hole over and over? These verses are God's response.
A picture came to mind: I'm standing by a huge deep hole. I walk confidently but I'm walking around the hole rather than away from it. One wrong move and I fall back in. God's trying to get me to walk away from the hole but somehow I think I'm doing fine as I walk confidently where I'm walking. God is trying to change the way I smell spiritually.
Think about smells: you might have a kitchen full of incredible smells, but if you open the refrigerator and there's something hiding in there that should have been thrown away weeks ago, that's all you are going to smell.
I remember a cartoon I saw years ago. The first picture is of a woman getting ready for date. She powders herself. She sprays perfume on herself. She wears deodorant -- anyway she can make herself smell good she does it. Then before she meets her date she stops to get gas. A bit of gas dribbles on her hands. When she meets her date what does he smell? Yep, gasoline.
The longer you walk with Jesus, hopefully you are getting to be more like Him, getting closer to Him. And that means that aroma you are sending out (you can't control this at all -- good or bad) should be getting sweeter all the time. So if there's a bit of human flesh or world thinking in you it's going to overpower all the good stuff. That part of you has to be cut out. God doesn't want it to stay there because it totally ruins the whole smell affect He's going for in you.
Hawk and I are reading a book called "I Wear Midnight" by Terry Prachett. Love this YA series. Anyway, the main character of the book, Tiffany Aching, has been pursued by a demon of sorts throughout the book. He has no eyes. No one else can see him but everyone can smell him. And he smells so bad that everyone comments about the smell whenever he's near. This demon's smell overpowers everything.
Think about the reverse: if we have an incredible sweetness of Jesus flowing through us that overpowers all else in the room, that is what will color everything. That is what people will notice.