What did you smell like today? When you left the room what did the people say that you smelled like to them? Did you have some good “smell good” on?
Smell is very sensitive and has memory
Our sense of smell seems to be one of the first of our five senses to be intensely activated when you change environments. People, plants, animals all have a certain aroma that they naturally give off, which you notice when you first come in their presence. Your mind is also locked in forever with an opinion of a certain smell that you first encounter, and it replays the emotions of that encounter each time you smell that certain smell.
Some aromas are very pleasant, like a flower, which makes you want to stay all day in that aroma. Then there are some repulsive aromas, like a skunk, that you would want to get away from as soon as possible.
When you first enter a business you notice a certain smell associated with that business: like a grocery store, or a hospital, or a nursing home, or a pig parlor, or a hair salon. Even your home and car have a certain smell about them.
Fragrance is not limited to just to our natural realm
Spiritual beings can also give off a fragrance. Deliverance ministers have said that they can detect certain demons through their own peculiar smell that they emit from an individual undergoing deliverance. People who have had an experience of visiting hell have said that there is a special putrid, offensive smell that is given off by hell and the demons there.
Others who have experienced an angel in their midst, or even the presence of the Lord, have detected a sweet rose smell.
Your fragrance is part of your memory identity to others
As an individual, you will give off a fragrance, both in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm. Your physical fragrance may come in the form of a cologne or perfume that you like to wear and hope that it was something other people liked as well and remember you by. Some people don’t use any “smell-good” at all, hoping that their natural body odor is not offensive.
In the Song of Solomon, there are multiple references of a pleasing fragrance and aroma from both the Shulamite and the Beloved. They both express their pleasure in the fragrance or aroma that each gives out to the other. The remembrance of their fragrance ignited their passionate desire to be with each other.
In regard to physical fragrances, Christian Dior once said, “Long after one has forgotten what a woman wore, the memory of her perfume lingers.”
Orison Swett Marden stated fragrance from another viewpoint, as he stated it this way, “Sweeter than the perfume of roses is a reputation for a kind, charitable, unselfish nature; a ready disposition to do to others any good turn in your power.”
What is in your heart determines your spiritual smell
While pleasant perfumes and colognes offer good memories, this type of smell is not as important as your spiritual smell which your heart gives out. That spiritual smell is what you give off from your interaction with others when you enter a room and what is remembered when you have left the room. Do people spiritually smell the very pleasing fragrance of Jesus Christ from you by what you have said and done? Or is it an “imitation” of Christ smell? Or is it even an offensive demonic smell that they remember?
The apostle Paul wrote these words, found in II Corinthians 2:14-16, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”
The aroma of Christ
While on Earth, even our Lord Jesus gave out an aroma from His presence. Ephesians 5:2 states, “And walk in love, as Christ also loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Jesus’ life gave out an aroma of love and of holiness to people, which they picked up from His spirit, and His obedient life was a sweet-smelling aroma of sacrifice to the Father.
As a disciple of Christ, do you give off a fragrance of the life of Christ, so that people will want to be around you and will miss you when you leave? Or is your life just a front, like some cheap perfume or cologne that tries to come off as an expensive perfume or cologne.
The cheap stuff has no good memory attached
You only fool yourself when you try to impress with the cheap fragrance. People know the difference between the real perfume or cologne and an imitation. Their noses tell them if you paid the price for the real stuff, or you skimped and bought the cheap stuff. The real stuff has a distinctive, fuller, and longer lasting fragrance than the cheap, imitation stuff.
The same applies to the depth of your relationship with the Lord. People know the difference between someone who has paid the price for a life sold out to Christ and someone who professes to yet has not done so. It’s sometimes called the life of hypocrisy.
Remember this: Your physical fragrance cannot hide your spiritual fragrance. Sooner or later, both who and what is in your heart will always be revealed by what you say and do.
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