One of the more visually vivid passages in the Bible was part of my devotional reading this morning.
“As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” (Ecclesiastes 10:1).
It would be bad enough to see dead bugs in a perfume bottle. The contradiction visually would be enough to get the stomach churning.
But then when the stopper were removed from the bottle and the tainted smell wafted out, our first inclination might be to cast the bottle as far away and as quickly as we possibly could.
It would be that disgusting.
That which was intended to be good and pleasing and promote a closer relationship had instead — because of neglect — become sickening.
It is a bottle that no man in his right mind would offer to the love of his life.
Yet, too often, perfume bottles containing dead flies are what we offer to God.
He gave us a perfect vessel when He gave us life.
And He gave us an abundance of instinctive and instructed wisdom on how to keep our lives fragrant to Him.
But our choices to carelessly sniff where we shouldn’t, rather than be satisfied with the aroma of godliness, eventually led to dead flies in our perfume bottle.
We’ve all failed this way, it is clear.
So what can we do to restore the pleasing aroma to God?
Recognize Jesus as our sacrificed Savior, that’s what.
For when Jesus fills our hearts, the infinite potency of His atoning blood, offered on the altar of Calvary, serves as a New Testament counterpart to the burnt offerings to God provided in the Old Testament tabernacle and later temple.
Of the 42 verses in the Bible that mention the word “aroma,” 41 are in the Old Testament and make reference to the aromatic smoke wafting to heaven from the burnt offerings. To God, that smell of burning, sacrificial animal flesh reflected the people’s obedient desire to please Him.
The last use of “aroma” in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 2:15, defines Christians as the aroma of the sacrificed Christ.
“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15).
The verse says to me that the perfect life and perfect death of Jesus Christ on the sacrificial altar of Calvary’s cross can sanctify me into becoming more pleasing to God when I allow Christ to fill my heart.
No longer will God see a corrupted heart filled with dead flies sent from the one whom Jesus called the “Lord of the Flies,” Satan himself.
Please, my friend, when you hear temptations buzzing around your heart and mind, realize who sent them and cry out to Jesus so that His love, His power, His purposes and His people will fill you to overflowing, leaving no room for the buzzers to crawl in.
As always, I love you
Martin
