Have you ever walked past a shop that sells only bath products, those with mountains of fragranced bath salts and bath-balls? The smell is amazing! They just seem to get it right to entice you with that smell! I want to walk into that shop every time and buy something – anything – that will make my house smell like that! But, of course, they have numerous products, and even if I did buy one or two, that overwhelming smell is only possible with loads of products in one space.
Smell has an influence. Just smell a rotten egg or rotten potato and you know for sure that smell has a huge impact on our wellbeing. Smell can even make us more awake – apparently, a lemon smell does that- or make us calmer, like a lavender scent. Smell gets our attention.
Sometimes, as life goes rushing by from one thing to another, we might feel that we don’t make a difference. In a worldly sense, maybe we don’t – none of us is Mother Theresa or a president somewhere. We are just normal people, trying to do the best we can to make ends meet and survive. Mothers with young children can especially really feel like they are just cleaning (smelly) nappies, feeding little people and juggling housework, work, church, etc – and then repeat.
A scripture that has been a huge encouragement for me over the years, especially when I think I have no influence or I don’t make a difference, is this one:
2 Cor 2:15 &16 (KJV):
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
None of us is sufficient to be carrying a beautiful aroma, but God gives it to us through His Son – making us an aroma before Him. That aroma starts being part of us the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. That aroma is smelt by everyone – by God, the lost and the saved. The saved will smell the beauty thereof, the lost will smell the death thereof, reminding them of what life is without Jesus – it is not life at all, but death. We do carry an aroma and what I’ve found is that people who are hungry and needy for salvation, smell it and are drawn to it.
We have an aroma-influence wherever we go: we are walking, talking diffusers. Our very presence is enough to bring that aroma into any given situation. We do not have to do anything to release it; it goes with us. That encourages me to act like someone worthy of the aroma. I know I can never be worthy because it is the aroma of Jesus that is smelling so good, but I want to make sure the vessel is clean as well.
In Phil 4v18 (KJV) Paul thanked the church for the things they sent him. He called those things a “sweet smell.” We need to know that we know that whatever we do and wherever we go – we are influencers.
Phil 4:18 (KJV):
But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.
I remember the one year my husband and I had to find side tables for our bed. We looked in numerous shops and then decided to buy two at a shop not too far from us. The sales assistant was extremely helpful and very friendly. When we paid, she exclaimed, ‘What is it about you two? You have such a beautiful aura around you!’ I immediately sensed the situation and started telling her of the glorious sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for her. Right there in the shop, she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. The other shop assistant was already a believer and could guide her to find a church and to be discipled. She smelled us – not our perfumes or aftershave – but the glorious smell of Jesus, and she was drawn to it. Before she asked us, I made no mention of Jesus; I did not have an opportunity to – we were choosing furniture! She sensed something different.
You are an influencer every single day. Even if you don’t feel like you are influencing anyone, just your presence is an influence. The more we are saturated in God’s Word and His presence, the more it transforms us, and I believe the smell becomes stronger. I have been in people’s presence that I could sense are with God a lot – their smell was strong and godly.
I think we can make a stink of things as well, when our carnal nature takes over and we blow our godly testimony. But I also believe that God redeems. He is able to turn our stinks into aromas if we take it all back to Jesus, the Sweet-smeller. Jesus’ sacrifice then covers our stink and He releases the aroma that covers it all.
No matter where you are and what your day looks like, trust God to be that sweet-smelling aroma today. Know that you diffuse and that it is a good smell. Carry that smell well, with shoulders pulled back and head held high. You are only carrying His Presence and smell anyway; you might as well do it boldly and with confidence.
Love
Liesl
