I was talking with one of my squad mates my first morning in Kathmandu and the Holy Spirit brought to mind a great analogy. We had been talking about how one of her girls felt like she smelled weird all the time. She realized that it was just her own scent dulled down by the occasional bucket showers.
We started talking about how our spiritual journeys are similar. We don’t know our own spiritual BO. If we are not honest with how we experience the word and by proxy the Lord, how are we supposed to know how we smell spiritually?
Something else I got the pleasure of experiencing while in India was the fact that my body odor smelled like curry after a few days of eating dal 3 meals a day. It makes sense that your body starts to smell like what you put into it. In the US I never experienced this for a few reasons. Number one, because I bathe more regularly. Second, I don’t eat anything with a strong enough aroma for it to affect my body. Third, when I do start smelling a little funky but don’t have time to shower I can always spritz a little body spray and call it good for a few hours. (Hey, I’m just being honest.)
We do the same thing spiritually. Maybe I won’t speak for you, but I know I don’t FILL myself with the word of the Lord. And if I am not filling my body with the substance of the Lord it makes sense that I won’t have the fragrance of the Lord.
In America we often go without bathing ourselves in the word. I mean really sitting down, no distractions, and soak in the word of God. No study guides, no anything, just you, the Bible and the Holy Spirit. I am not saying those things don’t have a place but it is like using scented soap. You still don’t really know what you smell like since you have supplemental guidance. I challenge you to take a week and simply ask the Lord where he wants you to be in the word. I’m not recommending the miraculous bible flip, but really feeling like where you are being led. For me I have been camped out in Ephesians and Psalms.
Americans don’t bathe themselves in scripture but we can take a great bucket shower, ever single Sunday. We then supplement it with a spiritual body spritz on a weekday night. Now, PLEASE don’t read this as me bashing church going and bible studies. THEY ARE NECESSARY AND VITAL FOR YOUR FAITH WALK. I am simply challenging you to evaluate if you are FILLING your body with the word to the point where it becomes your fragrance.
“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those where are being saved and among those who are perishing…”
2 Corinthians 2:15
So…how do you smell?
