Do You Smell Bad?

 

B.O.

What do you smell like to other people?

Do you smell bad?

We wear deodorant, perfume, cologne, and all kinds of other things to avoid the occurrence where someone might accidentally smell a bad odor emanating from our person. We want to smell good to others, especially in a world where the natural odor of the body is all but forgotten. 

Just like animals, humans emit pheromones, and those natural odors contain information about us that other humans can interpret. Specific odors carry information about our physical health, our sexual readiness, and even about whether we are male or female. 

We wear deodorant, perfume, and cologne to cover natural body odors—because in today’s world, even our God-designed scent is considered unpleasant. 

But what if that effort to cover up applies not just physically, but spiritually? 

What if, without realizing it, we are masking our spiritual scent in order to blend into the world?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for deodorant, showers, and the fact that I don’t have to smell everyone else who hasn’t showered for a month. 

It’s great to live at a time when we can shower every day instead of once a month or once a week, but there’s another aspect to this that we might have overlooked, and that’s the spiritual application. 

Smells Like Jesus

What is our spiritual smell? How do we smell to God, and how do we smell to others in a spiritual sense?

2 Corinthians 2:14 NASB95 - But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

2 Corinthians 2:15 NASB95 - For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

If we are living like Jesus, we are going to carry His smell, just like families always smell the same, we will smell like the family of God, spiritually speaking. We’ll have a scent, both for those who are being saved and those who are perishing, but it won’t smell the same. 

2 Corinthians 2:16 YLT - to the one, indeed, a fragrance of death to death, and to the other, a fragrance of life to life; and for these things who is sufficient?

The same aroma will be sweet to some, but to others, well, it’s the smell of death. 

The Stench of Death

To those who are living in the world, we are going to stink, but to God, we smell sweet. To those who are perishing, we smell like death, judgment, and righteousness, but to those who are being saved, it is the sweet smell of salvation. 

We are supposed to be the same sort of sweet-smelling sacrifice before God that Jesus was. 

Ephesians 5:2 YLT - and walk in love, as also the Christ did love us, and did give himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell,

We live as sacrifices, staying away from the things of the world that might cover us in spiritual stench, and instead put on Christ. 

Ephesians 5:3 YLT - and whoredom, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becometh saints;

Ephesians 5:4 YLT - also filthiness, and foolish talking, or jesting, -- the things not fit -- but rather thanksgiving;

Ephesians 5:5 YLT - for this ye know, that every whoremonger, or unclean, or covetous person, who is an idolater, hath no inheritance in the reign of the Christ and God.

Ephesians 5:6 YLT - Let no one deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the sons of the disobedience,

Ephesians 5:7 YLT - become not, then, partakers with them,

Ephesians 5:8 YLT - for ye were once darkness, and now light in the Lord; as children of light walk ye,

Ephesians 5:11 YLT - and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of the darkness and rather even convict,

Ephesians 5:12 YLT - for the things in secret done by them it is a shame even to speak of,

We are supposed to smell different than the world, because the world does not put up a sweet smelling odor before God, in fact, it is the stench of death and human refuse—the stench of people who are sinning openly without shame. 

Isaiah 3:8 NKJV - For Jerusalem stumbled, And Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings [Are] against the LORD, To provoke the eyes of His glory.

Isaiah 3:9 NKJV - The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide [it]. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves.

Malachi 2:2 NKJV - If you will not hear, And if you will not take [it] to heart, To give glory to My name," Says the LORD of hosts, "I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take [it] to heart.

Malachi 2:3 NKJV - "Behold, I will rebuke your descendants And spread refuse on your faces, The refuse of your solemn feasts; And [one] will take you away with it.

Proverbs 13:5 NKJV - A righteous [man] hates lying, But a wicked [man] is loathsome and comes to shame.

בָּאַשׁ ba’as

Have a bad smell

Wickedness puts off a spiritual stench, and it is the stench of death, because that is where they are headed. The righteous put off a sweet odor, but to those who are dying, it is the odor of judgment. 

Isaiah 65:2 NKJV - I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way [that is] not good, According to their own thoughts;

Isaiah 65:3 NKJV - A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; Who sacrifice in gardens, And burn incense on altars of brick;

Isaiah 65:4 NKJV - Who sit among the graves, And spend the night in the tombs; Who eat swine's flesh, And the broth of abominable things is [in] their vessels;

Isaiah 65:5 NKJV - Who say, 'Keep to yourself, Do not come near me, For I am holier than you!' These [are] smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.

These are the sort of people who claim to follow God, but their actions don’t line up with what they are saying. God calls them a smoke in His nostrils, not a sweet perfume, but a smoke. When smoke gets in your eyes or nose, it’s irritating and very unpleasant, and that’s what fake righteousness is in the nose of God. 

That’s the kind of smell the wicked people put off, and it’s the kind of smell we don’t want to be putting off. We want to be a sweet savor in the nostrils of God, and we don’t want to be people He considers detestable. If we are obeying Him and walking in His Way, it’s going to be a naturally occurring odor. 

Romans 12:1 NKJV - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your reasonable service.

We live our lives as a spiritual sacrifice, the aroma of which is a sweet savor before God. 

Or do we? 

Do we put on spiritual deodorant to cover up our natural smell?

Do we try to mask our spiritual smell so we are able to blend in with the world around us?

Spiritual Deodorant?

Remember, if we smell like Jesus, the rest of the world is going to be put off by our smell because it will remind them of where they are headed. Simply seeing our example and the righteousness of Jesus within us will feel like judgment to them, because it reminds them of the judgment they are under. 

In order to avoid being hated, we might compromise the truth, tone down our convictions, use vague language, and in certain cases, even avoid obedience.  

Romans 12:2 NKJV - And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what [is] that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

It’s easy to try to mask this by acting different, or concealing who we are around the world, so that they will accept us and not find us detestable, but we are not supposed to conform to this world. 

We are supposed to be transformed, and in doing so, we convict those who are perishing. 

Ephesians 5:11 YLT - and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of the darkness and rather even convict,

If we are walking as Jesus walked, the world, and even other “Christians,” are going to hate us and find us to be an unpleasant smell, but if it is the smell of Jesus we bear, then it is not us they find detestable. 

Rather than trying to mask our smell and blend in, we should seek to become even more extreme in our devotion to our Father, becoming like Him in every aspect of our lives. 

Sacrifices Must Be Burnt!

Romans 12:9 NKJV - [Let] love [be] without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Romans 12:10 NKJV - [Be] kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

Romans 12:11 NKJV - not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Romans 12:12 NKJV - rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

The word for fervent here is quite interesting because fervent really doesn’t get to the fullest point of what Paul is getting at here. 

Ζέω

To boil with heat, be hot

Paul is telling us to be boiling hot in spirit and our service of Yahowah!

We’re supposed to be on fire for Him and His Way, which is caused by the fire of His Spirit. His Spirit is a fire within us, and His word is a hot flame. 

Jeremiah 20:9 NKJV - Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But [His word] was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding [it] back, And I could not.

Matthew 3:11 NKJV - "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 NKJV - Do not quench the Spirit.

Σβέννυμι

To extinguish, quench

Again, we find the Spirit of God spoken of as a fire in these places, and the word of God a fire within us. His word is a consuming fire, and we are all consumed by it. If we are wicked, the smell is the stench of death, but if we are His, then it is the smell of an acceptable sacrifice. We can’t smell good to both the world and to God. 

I’m not talking about being rude or offensive to try to put people off, I’m simply talking about not toning down our convictions so that other people won’t be put off by us. 

Romans 12:11 NKJV - not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Getting back to that idea of boiling in spirit we looked at earlier, boiling is an extreme state of water. It’s the hottest it can be before it evaporates. It’s an extreme temperature, and it puts off the strongest sweet aroma spiritually, but it also turns the world away from us. It’s much nicer to be lukewarm where we don’t have the stench of sin, but we don’t really have the aroma of being on fire for Yahowah either. 

Romans 6:19 NKJV - I speak in human [terms] because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members [as] slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness [leading] to [more] lawlessness, so now present your members [as] slaves [of] righteousness for holiness. 

The idea is not to tone things down, it’s to turn it up! 

Turn up our passion, our conviction, feed the fire within by diving into the Word of God, and don’t put on spiritual deodorant. 

Leviticus 1:9 NKJV - —And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.

You can’t separate the sweet aroma from the fire, and as living sacrifices to God, we cannot separate our sweet aroma from the fire of His Spirit. If we are not on fire, we are not putting off a pleasing aroma to God. 

If we’re boiling hot in spirit, we’re going to smell like Jesus to the Father, but we will smell like the judgment of death to those who are perishing in this world. 

So, how do we smell like Jesus? It takes more than obedience. It takes fire, and it takes extreme devotion.

Extreme Devotion

It doesn’t matter how good our outward appearances are, either. If our heart is not truly on fire, if we are not pursuing God with our whole heart, He sees it, and He does not accept our sacrifice. 

Amos 5:21 NKJV - "I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.

Amos 5:22 NKJV - Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept [them], Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.

Amos 5:12 NKJV - For I know your manifold transgressions And your mighty sins: Afflicting the just [and] taking bribes; Diverting the poor [from justice] at the gate.

Amos 5:13 NKJV - Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, For it [is] an evil time.

Amos 5:14 NKJV - Seek good and not evil, That you may live; So the LORD God of hosts will be with you, As you have spoken.

Amos 5:15 NKJV - Hate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

All we have to do to change the smell we put off is turn wholeheartedly to God and hate evil. We must not only love good, but we must seek it out and pursue it. God cares more about what is going on inside our hearts, if we are truly being obedient from the deepest part of ourselves, obeying from the heart, than He does us doing what we think will be pleasing. 

More than outward symbols of worship, He desires obedience!

1 Samuel 15:22 NKJV - So Samuel said: "Has the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, [And] to heed than the fat of rams.

Hosea 6:6 NKJV - For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 

Becoming more extreme in our obedience and service of God will make us detestable to the world around us, but it will make us a sweet aroma before God. We do not take on this sweet aroma simply through obedience, but because the blood of Jesus took away our sins and their stench, which forms us into an acceptable offering. 

We don’t smell like heaven because our own deeds washed us clean, but rather because we smell like Jesus and are His family. We can’t do this if we cling to the world and our old way of life.

Luke 9:23 LSV - And He said to all, “If anyone wills to come after Me, let him disown himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me;

We have to disown ourselves, which means we utterly reject and give up ownership of ourselves in order to follow Jesus. We completely turn ourselves over to Him as His slaves, and He owns us (link). 

You give up the right to yourself, in other words, which is quite extreme to say the least. 

Jesus requires extreme devotion from His followers, not just casual participation.

1 John 2:15 NKJV - Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:16 NKJV - For all that [is] in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.

1 John 2:17 NKJV - And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

What’s Your Smell?

The world is passing away, but those who are devoted fully to God will live forever. If we are extreme in our devotion, the fire of His Spirit within us will burn bright and hot, and we will smell like death to a perishing world, but in the throne room of heaven, the smell will be the sweet savor of good and acceptable sacrifices. It will be the smell of the family of Jesus. 

So, what do you smell like? 

Are you wearing spiritual deodorant, or can the world smell Jesus on you?