Years ago my wife and I met a newlywed couple that provided us with no small amount of comic relief. This was seen starkly one day at a church meeting when we met them in the parking lot and the wind was at their back. We smelled garlic–a lot of garlic! As they approached it was overwhelming. Behind a full-toothed grin the new hubby said, “My wifey can cook!”
During the events of the morning we got disconnected. My wife and I tried to find them but were unsuccessful. That is, until my wife channelled her inner Sherlock, she said: “Pick up the garlic scent.” We found the trail of garlic and quickly tracked them down.
As Christians we understand that there is a difference between exposure to biblical truth and consumption of it. The difference of course is that it (the truth) gets down into you. It proliferates everything about you. It seeps into your heart. It reorientates your mind. It recalibrates what you love. It orders what you do. As a result of consuming biblical truth we leave a scent behind. Like my friends who walked among a hazy fog of garlic we as Christians should be leaving a refreshing incense cloud of the grace of Christ.
In Ephesians 5 we are reminded that Christ’s work was such a favorable incense to the divine nostrils. Therefore, we as Christians must come out of this truth and likewise leave the proper trail of grace:
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.(Ephesians 5:1-2)
In 2 Corinthians 4 we are told that we are always to be a walking gospel air freshener. To some it is a reminder of death to others of life. All of this depends upon their reaction to the gospel:
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)
All of this pivots out of the truth of the gospel. Because of what Christ has done we are to be severely, radically, and visibly shaped by it!
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)
The key to all of this is to personally soak, to marinate in the truth of the Scriptures. This truth must go in before it can come back out. I fear that too many of us become casual observers of the Scriptures rather than biblical fanatics. The difference is translated in terms of stench and perfume.
Like our natural nostrils our spiritual sense of smell may become habituated with time. It is probably a good time to ask a brother or sister about how you smell. Do we smell like the dumpster of this world or do we leave a trail of the fragrance of the grace of Christ?
