Today is National Fragrance Day. The day was started in the 1980s by the manufacturers of perfumes to celebrate how the fragrances enhance our lives. I’ve never thought of my life being enhanced by such things. I’ve never been having a bad day and thought, “I’ll bet if I put on some cologne, my day will go much better.” Instead, I think most of us can see right through their aromatic mist and realize that this is just a great advertising and marketing ploy.
Everyone – well, almost everyone – likes to smell good. We don’t want the stench of body odor trailing us, leaving a wake of stink to curl the noses of those we pass. We shower with soap and water. We apply liberal amounts of deodorant to protect us through the day. And we might put on a splash of perfume or cologne. Guys might even use some after shave.
Grandpa was an Aqua Velva man. I can still see the bottle in the cabinet, and I always loved the smell. Dad was in a different era and Avon was the thing. Colognes and after shave came in stylish bottles in the shape of a boot, car, bullet, duck, pipe, or something else that would run its course and be considered “vintage” today.
As a teenager, my scent was Musk. For my wife, she loved the smell of Old Spice. And her “scent” when we met was White Shoulders. For a while, modern teens and young adults were really into Axe sprays. That may have changed, though.
I wonder what’s happened, though, in our world. Now, we are encouraged to not wear any scents because of all the allergies and reactions. Does anyone remember this being the case back in “the day?” I don’t. I never heard of anyone’s asthma triggered by perfumes and colognes – and my dad had bad asthma. We may not have liked someone’s smell or thought they were wearing too much but we didn’t start having problems
breathing. You have to wonder what has caused this drastic changes in our health and sensitivity.
While we ponder that, let’s consider a fragrance – an aroma that won’t throw any of us into respiratory arrest. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (15) For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (16) To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”
F.B. Meyer explains this passage: “When, therefore, we are told that we may be to God a sweet savour of Christ, it must be meant that we may so live as to recall to the mind of God what Jesus was in His mortal career. It is as though, as God watches us from day to day, He should see Jesus in us, and be reminded (speaking after the manner of men) of that blessed life which was offered as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.”1
J.B. Phillips is quoted in the Believer’s Bible Commentary as saying that this aroma is “the refreshing fragrance of life itself,” bringing life to those who believe, but the “deathly smell of doom” to those who refuse to believe. This twofold effect is beautifully illustrated in an incident in the OT. When the ark of God was captured by the Philistines, it caused death and destruction as long as it was among them (1 Samuel 5). But when it was brought back to the house of Obed-Edom, it brought blessing and prosperity for him and for his household (2 Samuel 6:11).”2
The child of God ought to have an odor. We should smell like Jesus. Imagine someone saying, “What’s that smell?” and someone else responds, “Oh, that’s just a child of God walking through!” That would be a great compliment.
Take a whiff of yourself. What do you smell like today? Paul said in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (2) And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
1Believer’s Bible Commentary module, e-Sword.net.
2Ibid.
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
