How Do You Smell?

Our sense of smell is a wonderful gift from God. Specific smells often evoke memories, the fragrance of Christmas spices, the distinctive aroma of Granny’s new baked bread, the spring blossom in the garden. But smells aren’t always pleasant; some are quite off putting. So what smell are you giving out? Is this just a matter of whether you are scrubbed clean and wearing an expensive perfume or aftershave?

No, I don’t think our verses today are speaking about a physical sense of smell, whether good or bad. So, what is it about? How do we smell what is a spiritual fragrance?

In the same way that our physical organs give us our five senses, enabling us to see, hear, smell, taste and touch, so our human spirit is able to detect similar stimuli. With our human spirit we can ‘see’ and have visions, we can ‘hear’ Jesus’ voice, we can ‘smell’ the fragrance of God’s truth, and we can ‘taste’ that God is good. We might even say we can ‘feel His touch’ on our lives.

(You might like to find scriptures that refer to these other spiritual senses. As a starting point you could try Psalm 34:8, Matthew13:13, John 10:27, and Philippians 3:12, but there are many more.)

So, we can ‘smell’ spiritually, and so can those around us, whether they realise it or not. And our spiritual fragrance isn’t sprayed on, but comes only from our Christlikeness.

So, how do you smell, and what effect is that having on those around you? As we move into 2025 let us renew our desire to be increasingly changed, to be more gracious in moments of disagreement, more speedily forgiving when we are hurt, and more generous with our time and money. In other words, let’s make this new year a moment to be more fragrant with the character of Jesus emanating from us every day.