Melody Salisbury     

Calvary Baptist Church

February 8, 2012  

The delicate, perfectly formed white flowers shone from the cover of the winter magazine and I couldn’t wait for my own paperwhite bulbs to bud.  Each day I checked on the progress of the green shoots sprouting in the dish on the ledge. Much to my delight, the snowy blooms finally opened and were every bit as beautiful as the ones featured in the article.

The next day, though, I detected a nasty odor somewhere in the room.  The stink intensified within a few hours and it appeared that some varmint had managed to get into the house, crawl into a corner, and die.  I peered inside every cabinet, closet and drawer, checking under everything, even inspecting inside the heating vents, to no avail. While I was relieved a putrefying carcass had not been discovered, I remained mystified as to the source of the stench.  My husband and daughter were similarly stumped.  Dusting the next day, however, I reached onto the ledge and when I moved the paperwhites, the fumes nearly knocked me over.  Much to my surprise the exquisite blooms were the culprit, emitting the noxious smell. 

Wow.  If something as stunning as paperwhites could have made such a nauseating odor, what must even our very best dressed lives “smell” like to God?  And, what must they “smell” like to others?

Jesus decried the hypocrites of His day, saying, “You are like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”  (Matthew 23:27b-28, NIV) 

Are our lives simply painted white on the outside, perhaps with the appearance of good deeds done?  Or, are we allowing God to work in us, daily cleaning out the rot and filling us with His fragrance?

Paul said, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  (Ephesians 5:2, NIV)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.  For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15, NIV)

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you that you sent your Son to die as the once-for-all sacrifice, the perfect One to cleanse us from our sins.  Help us to present ourselves to you daily for continued washing even in the most hidden recesses of our lives, and please fill us with your fragrance so that our lives are a sweet-smelling aroma of You to those around us.  In Christ’s precious name, Amen

© Melody Salisbury