For those of you who have been following and reading Learning To Live for awhile, you may remember that I write a lot of devotional blog posts based off of the antics of my cat, Blacko.
Well, recently Blacko has become blind due to aging (he’s gonna be 80 years old in cat years next month).
So, now Blacko relies more on his sense of smell to get around.
And that is what I’m gonna share more about in this blog post, and what biblical lessons we as Christians can learn from my cat, his blindness, and his sense of smell.
Dinner Steak
“Meow!”
“Yes, Blacko, your steak is almost ready!” Dad said as the sizzling sound of steak crackled through our small apartment.
My cat was going crazy over the pungent fumes of cooked meat.
Despite his blindness, Blacko knew what good food was just by smelling it.
And, as I observed my blind cat meowing, sniffing, and eagerly pacing around the kitchen as the steak smell got more intense, I realized something.
Maybe that’s what God wants us as His children to be all along.
To “smell like steak.”
What do you mean, Aleah?! You maybe thinking.
Well, let’s check out what the Bible has to say on this.
Fragrant Followers
In 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, we read:
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
(2 corinthians 2:14-15)
What does that mean?
I like how the Living Bible puts this verse:
But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume. 15 As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us.
(2 Corinthians 2:14-15 TLB)
What is so significant about this? How does this relate to my cat’s blindness and his crazy love for the smell of steak?
Smelling Differently
In 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, we saw how it’s only when Christ is in our lives, we bear that distinct “scent” to others around us.
The “distinct scent” of Christ’s character in us.
But again, why is that so significant?
Because just like my cat, Blacko, could SMELL something DIFFERENT in the kitchen DESPITE his blindness (aka the sizzling steak), so it is that the spiritually blind souls around us will “SMELL” something different from us Christians.
The different and distinct scent of Christ’s chracter in us.
It reminds me of a deep statement I read in a book called Christ’s Object Lessons:
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.
It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Peter 3:12, margin). Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.
(Christ’s object lessons pg. 69 paragraphs 1-2)
A Prayer To Smell
Dear reader, is it your desire to develop that distinct and strong smell of Christ’s character in your own life?
If so, I wanna encourage you to just pray:
I’d like to conclude this blog post with a beautiful quote from Ellen White:
Let us reveal in our lives the fragrance of his character. Be fragrant in your words. Remember that you are either a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. Let us be as fragrant flowers. Let the love of Christ pervade your lives. Let your words be such that they will be as apples of gold in pictures of silver.
-General conference bulletin april 4, 1901 article a paragraph 22-
Amen! Maranatha!
Wonderful! Just Wonderful ?