When I was young, I liked a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd titled “Oo Oo, That Smell.”

It’s a song about party life and addiction and how it has the smell of death on it.  It’s a wake-up call song meant to get rockers to think about what they’re doing for a pleasure-filled life.  The smell of death used in the lyrics of this song is metaphorical, no doubt, but it makes a strong point.

The Bible speaks of smells.  It speaks of smells that believers are.  That’s right; Scripture says you have two different kinds of smells about you when you are in Christ and representing Him to others.

(NLT) 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now, he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? 17  You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.

We refer to attitudes with reference to smell.  That attitude stinks, or that idea stinks, or someone might say that smells sweet!  It’s a way of describing something as being pleasant and good or unpleasant and bad.

The truth is that you can live according to the Spirit, secure in Christ and full of peace and joy, and be accused of smelling bad. You can also do that and be appreciated for smelling good.

Preaching for profit and popularity is not the right fragrance to wear—it’s a fake perfume of sorts. Preaching with sincerity and Christ’s authority is the only type of preaching that really counts and carries the true fragrance.  Getting the gospel right, getting it in, and then getting out really does matter.  Doing it from the right motive is also of great importance.