Two symptoms often associated with CO-VID include the loss of smell and the loss of taste. Ever-diligent to check the status of our health, some of us have been routinely checking these senses throughout the recent holiday season. This might explain the alarming uptick in the figure we read on our bathroom scales!
Taste and smell are closely-related senses–usually standing in agreement with one another. Why do we smell a carton of questionably-dated milk? Because we do not want to spit out a mouthful of sour milk! God’s word frequently uses taste as a figure of speech for experience. David invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good…” (Ps. 34:8). Peter picks up on this thought, saying, “if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord”, then “long for the pure milk of the word” and “grow in respect to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2-3).
Taste and smell are spiritual senses awaiting activation in those around us. Because God “always leads us in triumph in Christ”, the resultant blessing is that “the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him” is manifested “in every place” (2 Cor. 2:14). Thus, we become a “fragrance of Christ” to “those who are being saved” and to “those who are perishing” (vs. 15). While it must be followed up by teaching, a Christian’s example invites others to taste or experience for themselves the benefits of knowing Jesus. Acceptance or rejection of our invitation is dependent upon our fragrance. After all, it is the smell that invites the taste.
–Glen Elliott–