Fragrant Aroma

Your nose is truly remarkable. In the 17,000 times you breathed in today, your nose has to clean, humidify, and, in a fraction of a second, warm or cool the air to match your body temperature. It also detects up to 2,000 scents, good and not-so-good.

You might know the name King James because of the English translation of the Bible he commissioned, but you might not know this odd monarch didn’t try to live by the words he made available to others.

Though a promiscuous homosexual, he married Anne of Denmark and had seven children. This is amazing to me, considering King James suffered from aqua phobia – the fear of water. It is said he never took one single bath in his entire life! When King James entered a room, everyone knew it.

There is nothing worse than someone who reeks of a major personal hygiene malfunction. Well, that’s not true. It’s worse to reek of a condition I call “stinkin’ thinkin’.”

Negative thoughts turn into negative words. They bring darkness and despair. Doubt does the same, as does anger and jealousy. Coveting things that don’t belong to you also brings dark thoughts because it means you’re unhappy with what God’s given you.

Then there are wild imaginations. You know, arguments you have in your head where you’re giving people a piece of your mind or getting revenge. These most likely will lead to actions. Or imagining you know what others think of you, when you have no idea.

Thoughts become words. Words become actions, and actions have consequences.  One of those consequences is you begin to stink. Your words and actions will drive people from you like a rotting fish in the sun. You can’t feed the hungry, serve the poor, heal the lame, or rescue the lost if they are forced to run because of the stench.

The Bible tells us we are to be a fragrant aroma to God. Like incense, our words, actions and, yes, our very lives should smell a lot more like heaven than hell.