Of our 5 senses – Hearing, Sight, Touch, Taste and Smell – many people believe the strongest of all them could be the sense of smell.
Our aroma memories frequently have strong emotional qualities and are associated with the good or bad experiences in which they occurred. We can immediately recognize and respond to smells from childhood such as the smell of clean sheets, cookies baking in the oven, the smell of new books or a perfume scent from Grandma’s house.
Very often we cannot put a name to these scents yet they have a strong emotive association even if they cannot be specifically identified.
Our sense of taste is greatly influenced by our sense of smell. The sense of smell in responsible for about 80% of what we taste. Without our sense of smell, our sense of taste is limited.
The average human being is able to recognize approximately 10,000 different odors.
God has a strong sense of smell also.
The fragrance of our actions and our motives affect our God.
Then Mary took a twelve- ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said,
5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial.
8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
I realize the fragrance was perfume. I also believe that it was the expression of her sacrifice and devotion that impacted Jesus. The truth is there is a spiritual scent to our actions.
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
15 Our lives are a Christ- like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.
Our example can be an aroma of faith to others.
Have you ever smelled a ‘foul’ smell and didn’t know what it was?
“Something smells funny in here.” Or “something stinks in here!!”
I wonder if the Holy Spirit says, “something smells ‘off’ in this situation.
I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.
Philippians 4:18 NLT
Our financial giving – with the right attitude can be a sweet smelling aroma to God.
Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
Ephesians 5:2 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus himself is the example of a fragrance that honors God.
Let your actions be with the right attitude and the right motives.
