What's That Smell?

Benson & Stone

After raising two daughters and no sons, I am constantly amazed by our two grandsons and how different it is having boys as opposed to having girls. This is Spring Break week for us, so a couple of days ago, Garry picked up both boys and took them to the park while I cleaned my office. Let me give a bit of background here: Lacie (our oldest) and her husband Brandon have one child, Benson, who is five, and Carlie (our youngest) and her husband Preston have one child, Stone, who is almost two. Both girls live near us, so we are fortunate in that we get to see the grands often.

After spending a couple of hours at the park, Garry, aka "Pa," brought both boys  home for some "Nana" time. I didn't have to rely on my ears to know when they entered the house; I only had to catch a whiff of their smell! The very distinct odor of smelly, dirty boys wafted through the living area and into my office. I looked at their dirty faces, hands, feet, and clothes then at Garry and said, "There's nothing quite like that boy smell!"

Now our girls were not afraid to get dirty. They played outside when they were little, played sports, and showed pigs and goats. None of that smells good, but neither does it smell like boys! There's just a real difference.

Did you know that as a believer and receiver of Christ, we are to have a distinct odor? I know that sounds sort of far-fetched, but it is part of our Holy Calling that I've written about before.(Click on "Holy" in the labels to read previous posts on the subject.)

As a side note, let me say that when the Holy Spirit keeps taking me back to the same scripture and concepts, I know He is trying to get something important through my thick skull. I've been pondering this "Holy Calling" idea since September, if not before! I understand that it's more for my own benefit than anyone who may read what I write...So please bear with me as He and I work this out!

• He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace... 2 Tim. 1:8-12

In previous posts I have written about what it means to have this holy calling on a believer's life. A believer in Christ is to be different from the world; we should stand out, stand apart from the leanings of what the world says is right and normal. That's not always easy or comfortable.

In Called to Be Different, Part 2, I wrote that a Christian should not look like, sound like, act like, or think like the secular world. Today I am adding that a Christian should not smell like the secular world either.

The scripture refers to a believer's body as a vessel and a temple.

• If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special vessel for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21 NLT
• Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? 1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT

How many of us try to comprehend what this means? Each individual believer is a New Testament version of the Holy of Holies!

 In Old Testament times, the children of Israel worshiped in the Tabernacle. It was a huge tent that moved with the nomadic Israelites wherever they went. In the Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies - the sacred room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and where, once a year, the High Priest would go in to atone for their sins and hear from God. It was so sacred that the High Priest would tie a rope around his ankle so that if something were to happen to him while in there, he could be pulled out - for no one else could enter that place. 

When Christ gave up His life on the cross, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies was literally torn in two. His death and resurrection gave us complete, personal access to the most Holy God! Furthermore, when we accept Him as Lord and Savior, His Holy Spirit comes to live within us. Thus, we become an individual temple of the Holy Spirit. We don't become God, but we contain God's Spirit. That's a WOW!

As His vessel, we are to let off the sweet fragrance of Jesus - metaphorically - just as they burned sweet incense in the Old Testament temple.

Remember that verse from 2 Timothy says we are called according to His purpose. Part of that purpose is explained in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15:

• But thank God!...Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God...

We are to be offered up to Him to use in this world to bring others to know Him. We do that, in part, by being different.

Just as my sweet grandsons sometimes have that distinct "boy" smell, we are to have the distinct aroma of Christ about us. When we engage in conversation, there should be something that sets us apart from the world; as we go, there should be something different in our actions. We must be mindful that we are a vessel carrying the very Spirit of the living God.

So, as you go - to your family life, to your workplace, to the marketplace - what is it that people smell? Do they smell the nastiness of the world or the sweet fragrance of Jesus?