Do I stink?

This was part of a blog that I actually wrote to "my girls" when I was in fulltime Student Ministry in Rome. I ran across it tonight and thought I'd share. I needed this reminder today to let my life be a little more smelly! :) Maybe you can use the reminder too!

Do you ever wonder sometimes if you smell bad and maybe you ask a really, really close friend, "hey, do I stink?" Crazy is the friend who actually gets close enough to smell! (but a good friend in deed!) We've all been there and done that, and thankfully, we have those friends that are willing to use the power of their noses on our behalf.The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 2:15 that as Christians we produce an aroma. "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." Let me explain this verse a little better for you. When we choose to share the news of Jesus, it's good news to some and bad or "stinky" news to others. To other Christians, the smell is sweet. To non-believers, we probably stink.

I've decided that in a spiritual sense, if I stink to non-believers, then I'm probably doing my job as a Christian as far as sharing Christ with others goes. This is not a "stink" like "I need to take a shower" stink. What Paul is saying here, is that if we are sharing our faith like God calls us to, non-believers are going to eventually being smelling the smell of death. And in this particular scripture, death means hell, or life without God. So the stink that non-believers smell is their own death. Non-believers have to recognize their need for Jesus before they will accept Him. You and I as Christians will be the ones to show them this need by telling them with our words and with our actions. We may smell really bad to them for a while - but that's the point! When something smells repulsive, you are going to try your best to get rid of the smell! Once non-believers realize that this smell can only become sweet is by having Jesus in their lives, our "stink" to them was all worth it! Maybe some of you are in that place where you have got to take care of that stinch, and now you know the only way to do that is by having Jesus in your life. If that's the case, please find out how you can do that! Contact me and I would LOVE to walk you though that. For those of you that are believers, do you stink? 'Cause you should to some people!

Have a good day!
Mere