Greg and I had a very unpleasant surprise last weekend. We noticed that a not-so-pleasant smell had appeared in our basement garage and my husband set about finding the source of the stench. At first he found a dead mouse behind our chest freezer and he quickly gave the poor thing a heave-ho out into the yard. Problem solved! Not so fast. When he moved the chest freezer, he discovered that the freezer was no longer working. He opened the lid on the freezer and the vile smell that assaulted his nose let him know very quickly that the freezer had not been working for a while.
The freezer contained at least 150 pounds of venison and elk meat that had completely thawed out and spoiled. The smell was hideously vile. I’m not sure I can find a word that is adequate to describe the smell, in truth. If you have ever had this happen you know what I am talking about!!
Immediately we moved the freezer out into the yard. No small feat, let me tell you, but thankfully my very strong husband was able to do that with a small amount of assistance from me. We set about pulling the contents out of the freezer and placing it in garbage bags to dispose of it. Someone with a weak stomach would never have been able to complete that task!
It occurred to me that the smell must have been similar to the smell of the Nazi concentration camps where millions of Jews were slaughtered and dumped into mass graves. Perhaps that is what the New Orleans area smelled like for months after hurricane Katrina. I began to ponder the fact that my sin must have smelled equally bad to our Lord. He is so perfect and holy and sin is so foreign to Him. Yet, He took my sin upon Himself and covered the stench of it, giving me life eternal in exchange.
The apostle Paul addressed the topic of smells and fragrances. In 2 Corinthians 2: 14-16 he said, “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.” Did you know that if you are a Christian you have a fragrance? It is the fragrance of Christ and it affects people differently. To some we may smell like life and they want whatever makes us smell and act like Christ, however, to others we may smell like death and those people reject Christ.
What does your life smell like? Does it smell like our freezer, spoiled and rotten, or does it smell like Jesus Christ? I pray that my life gives off the aroma of Christ to those around me.
