Wednesday In The Word: Fragrance

A true story was told to me recently that definitely sticks in my mind as a wonderful illustration of what a fragrant life is all about. No names will be used to protect the innocent but listen to this:

A man lived in the mountains on the side of a hill and had the suspicion that there was a critter residing under his house. He set a trap and sure enough in a few days he caught that critter. It was a skunk! The man proudly disposed of that little critter and got ready to go to work. When he walked into work he noticed that everyone looked at him funny and avoided him if at all possible. Finally, someone came to him and said,"man you need to go take a bath, you smell."
Well the man couldn't smell and the skunk had sprayed under that house and it had definitely seeped in to the man's living quarters. What a mess and what a smell.
I have thought on this little story all week and there is an obvious picture that we can not miss.
The Bible says:

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 5:1,2

From the rooftop:

The Bible makes it clear that we are to be imitators of God
We are loved
We are to love as He loves us
We are to be as Christ and live a life of abandonment toward others
When we follow the example of Christ our life will have a sweet smell

How many times have you and I gone about our days thinking that we were doing the right thing, saying the right thing or just going through the motions only to discover that our motivations were not right and everything just blows up in our face. There is a difference between doing what we are supposed to do and acting out our days motivated by the foundation of Christ in our hearts. A lot of times when we just go through the motions with little thought or time spent with God we are like the man that can't smell in this story. Our lives don't have a very sweet smell.

I am praying for you and you pray for me that we would look to Christ as our example and love one another as He has loved us and allow that basic fact to affect every action we take.

I love you,
Glenda