YOU STINK PRETTY

GOOD PERFUMES CAN BE RECOGNIZED AS BEAUTIFYL AROMAS. 
CHEAP PERFUMES HURT OUR NOSES.


‘You stink pretty,’ an Aussie larrikin paid a compliment to his wife.
For some people wearing perfume continually is their signature.  They are recognized by that particular perfume even if they cannot be seen.
Ancient Egyptians used perfume believing it was the sweat of the god Ra.  I suppose the Egyptians might have had a point because people working and moving in the sun can’t help but sweat and smell.
Ann Hamilton points out that each of us has a unique odor and as individual as finger prints or retina markings. Ann suggests that in Isaiah 11: 3, we will be judged not by sight or sound but by smell, ‘he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears.’
How many times have we heard, ‘don’t show fear because the animal will sense it and attack. Stay calm and it will move away.’  I can’t help feeling that the phrase, ‘delight in fear,’ could be that the Lord delights in our fear or awe of him and he recognizes each of us by our odor of awe which is our signature.

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I am not a perfume person.
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I have been given gifts of scent but they sit in my cupboard unused. Maybe my husband can identify my personal aroma, for it seems we all have a certain odor, especially if we haven’t bathed for a while.  Wearing perfume is not important to me as my signature or identification.
I much prefer to be known by the fragrance of Christ that I exude. As is quoted in 2 Corinthians 2: 15 for we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ.’  How can I be so arrogant as to claim that I exude the aroma of Christ?  Simply because Christ lives in me.  Remember the scripture? ‘It’s no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me.’ Gal. 2: 20. Dare you say that you are not a child of God?  Dare you say that you do not exude the aroma of Christ? 
Everything about Christ, his character, his personality, his very being and above all his sacrifice for you and I was a pleasing aroma to his Father. ‘This is my son in whom I am well pleased,’ God, the Father declared.

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A NEW FRAGRANCE

The aroma of our service, the aroma of our good living, the aroma of how hard we are trying to be a Christian is a stink rather than a sweet fragrance.  It is the aroma of Christ that God is searching for. 
The aroma of Christ in us is all God wants, When God gets a whiff of Christ in us, and he knows we are one of his, one of his children.
Christ in us is our fragrance, it exudes from us, we don’t have to work to set it free, we just have to be and everyone will know our particular aroma is Christ.
 But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children … (John 1:12).

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