Smelling Myself

I was listening to one of the Pastors giving a small talk before communion. He spoke about how Christians can seem when posting online, but act differently in church. Sometimes what is posted can be misconstrued (and let's face it, it often is!), but it also can show the heart attitude of a person.
He asked for us to imagine our Christian attitudes as a scent. Is that scent pleasing aroma to God, or do we stink? Some people sit in church praising God while hating the brother or sister sitting next to them.

Ouch, Pastor!

One thing I love about my church is the diversity of our pastors. This one doesn't pull any punches and gets right to the point. I love that.

The moment he uttered those words, he might have been speaking directly to me- and from the expressions of most of the congregants, they felt the same as I did. Did my heart really stink?

So after church, I gave my inner self a sniff or three. Oh yeah, there was some stinkification in my heart. Fortunately, I knew what attitudes needed changing- unfortunately some people got a bad whiff of me a few weeks back, and it's something I can't change. There is no 'Undo' button. No 'Replay'. No 'Reload your game'. I screwed up and I can't take it back. That just makes my spiritual redo harder.

Though not impossible!

I smelled a lot of good things too, but those aren't my main concern. I need to clean the bad spots before I can improve the whole- like bleaching a shirt. A little spot cleaning here and there before you toss the whole thing into the wash.

And sometimes you need to rewash. More than once.

I've been reading Leviticus and Numbers, and God talks about 'a pleasing aroma' a lot in those chapters. God likes Himself a good smell! He's also willing to help us with the spot cleaning, so we smell good to Him again. Gotta love that...right?

When people want to know what a Christian is, I want them to give me a sniff and come away smiling, not holding their noses. Too many times I've seen unborn Christians (people who aren't Christians...yet!) with their noses crinkled as they passed by, not realizing I was the reason for their reaction. 

Yikes.

Help me be a pleasing aroma to You, Lord. Help me find the stink and eradicate it. Let my life in reality, online, and in my writing reflect You and glorify You in all aspects. I want to smell good not only to You, but to those around me too!