Imagine you are disabled or elderly and unable to work. You are alone in this world with no family to help you. The government gives you somewhere between $600 and $800 each month to live on and maybe some food stamps. After your monthly expenses you have about nothing left for discretionary items let alone things like toiletries and laundry soap which food stamps do not pay for. Picture in your mind how you would look without soap and shampoo at your disposal. Think about how your clothes would look without laundry detergent. Most of all, think about how you would smell.
My amazing church is full of people like this every week. People that don't have enough, people that are hurting and most of all people that smell. On any given Sunday, especially in the summer, the smell of our sanctuary can be a little overwhelming. We give out toiletries once a month to the people who come to church. Today was toiletry day. Unfortunately, one woman who needed the toiletries the most, almost left without them. That happened, because even in a place like Pottstown Bible Church, no one could stand her smell.
This dear, sweet woman is not homeless. She is one of those people I asked you to imagine. In addition to being physically disabled, she is also mentally disabled. She is one of the weakest in society with no one to care for her and today she smelled. This is a lady who comes to church every week and has never smelled like this before. Now, I don't know if she will ever come back, because she was driven away by people that came to church to worship God but couldn't deal with it.
I know that our church preached God's Word and God's Love to the fullest today, but I also know that our congregation did not have the ears to hear it or the nose to smell it today. The Bible says that when we share the knowledge of Christ, there is a smell... a fragrance. It says that to God we are "the aroma of Christ" and that to some we smell like death and to others we smell like life. (II Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV) In the Old Testament, God says over and over again that the Israelite's worship and sacrifice was a pleasing aroma to him. I'm wondering what God smelled today. I have a feeling it wasn't that poor woman's odor.
