What Is that Smell?

Written by Kristi Huseby

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“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)

I walked in from our garage into the kitchen and immediately smelled something awful! It was permeating the whole house. I figured it was either coming from the garbage or the refrigerator. I checked the trash and didn’t find anything too smelly in there. So my next exploration led me to the fridge, it was full at the time and it took some sorting out to find the culprit!

I found it! We had a nice science experiment going on in our refrigerator with a few spoonfuls of refried beans. I couldn’t believe that such a little amount of food could cause such a great stink in our house.

Smell is a powerful thing. A small whiff of an odor or fragrance can you take you back to a memory from long ago. The Bible talks about the aroma that a believer gives off. Look at 2 Corinthians 2:14. Have you ever stopped to consider what kind of a smell you are giving off? Is it a sweet fragrance of surrender to Jesus Christ or an acrid repugnant odor of sin hidden in your heart?

Holding onto our sin is like carrying around a big smelly bag of trash. We get used to carrying that bag and it actually feels good at times, we feel justified in our attitudes and our behaviors. We don’t even realize that that big bag of trash is causing us to stumble and fall and to miss out on so much more that God wants to give us.

A big bag of smelly sin

How easy and comfortable it is to wallow in our sin, to justify it and excuse it while never realizing that it is weighing us down, tripping us up and holding us captive. I have found that in my own life, when I allow sin to take root that it quickly takes over and I need to surrender to Jesus Christ and allow Him to dig it out and expel that odorous sin from my life.

Just as a refrigerator cannot rid itself of its own smelly contents, we cannot clean up our life on our own. We need a Savior to rescue us from our depravity, our foolishness and show us where we need to go – that Savior is Jesus Christ.

Father, I want to be a sweet expression of your love. Clean out the smelly things in my spirit so that when others encounter me I remind them of You. Amen.

Questions: Have you given over your bag of trash to your Savior? Have you surrendered those areas in your life that are holding you back from wholeheartedly following Him? What’s stopping you?

Tags: 2 Corinthians 2:14, aroma, Devotional, fragrance, God, Kristi Huseby, odor, smell, Women

One Response to “What Is that Smell?”

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sue says:

February 27, 2012 at 2:47 pm

wow good topic,,,,,, I have had to give alot of trash over to God thru my 74 yrs walking on this earth, and you know what he gladly took it, and disposed of it…. he is so precious to me, He cleaned me up when he saved my soul…….. now i pray ever day my light will shine and my sweetness will overcome some deep sorrows i may have or worries, i know in whom i believe and he is able to keep me…. Fantastic devo……… thanks . sue