Sniff, Sniff

Fried fish is one of my favorite foods; I enjoy cooking it, the aroma, and the delicious finished results. Had I neglected to wash the shirt I wore while cooking, the mouth-watering fragrance would transfer to the clothes hanging next to it in the closet. One whiff would alert others to what I had done; the once pleasant fish-frying smell was now an unpleasant odor.

Alluring sins can be pleasurable and attractive, but they lead down paths that leave on you traces of where you’ve been, even the secret pleasures. People who go where and do things they shouldn’t carry lingering “scents”—“fishy” telltale signs. Paul said of believers: “If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thess 3:14–15). And concerning all humanity, he said that bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor 15:33). Who we keep company with matters because their “smelly scents” affect those near them.

Are we judging others by recognizing their wrong choices and reacting accordingly to their actions? No, we’re obediently responding to the results of their deeds contrary to God’s commands. We are all prone to missing God’s mark of perfection, but by admitting and repenting (turning away from our sins), He cleanses us white as snow and wool (Isa 1:18), and we carry the scent of God’s forgiveness.