Good Smell or Bad Smell?

Every summer growing up we used to make the trek from Maryland, where we lived, to West Virginia, where our grandparents lived.  I could always tell when we were halfway there because I could smell the paper mill in Covington, Virginia (the half-way point).  My wife’s grandparents were from Pine Bluff, Arkansas where there were two papermills – one on each side of the town, so regardless of which way the wind was blowing, the townsfolk smelled a paper mill.  But the folk living there were accustomed to the smell.  They said that it was the smell of jobs and the smell of money.  Hey, it’s all in your point of view!  The same is true of Christians.  To the Lord, Christians are lovely, but to unchurched folk, Christians are an irritation, Christians stink!  Paul said in II Corinthians 2:15&16 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life ...”  Hey, which side of this spiritual issue are you on?  Do you smell of life in Jesus, or do you smell of death in hollow religion?  Do you enjoy other Christians because you are one, or do they stink because they remind you of what you ought to be?  Think about it.