Smelly Christians

(Pro 3:4 KJV) So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

This brings to mind a description of Jesus:

(Luk 2:52 KJV) And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

One of our goals is to be like Jesus. Jesus did not automatically turn people off. He drew people to Himself. We are to model that type of behavior. When you look at things like the fruit of the Spirit and descriptions of love in the Bible you find people that are very easy to like and be with. An obnoxious Christian is an oxymoron. You are either one or the other.

Having said that, we are not to be conformed to this world as Paul warned in Romans 12:2. We also have Paul pointing out that we will be the aroma (savour) of death to people who are spiritually dying.

(2Co 2:14-16 KJV) 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. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 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?

The natural man has an aversion to the things of God. We have the Holy Spirit. There is a natural aversion to us and to what we have become. This is true even if we are not trying to push out way of believing off onto others. When we are at a party and don’t drink, people are offended. When we are at work, and don’t cheat, people are offended. In numerous ways that are natural to us, people are offended. Jesus offended when He healed on the Sabbath. He offended when He pointed out simple truth from the OT. Wear the smell with courage.