all in the nose

This is Paul writing in his 2nd letter to the followers of Jesus in Corinth...

Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God.

But this fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved & by those perishing.

To those who are perishing we are a fearful smell of death & doom.

But to those who are being saved we are a life-giving perfume.

1 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NLT, 1st ed.)

If ya think about it, this especially explains the reactions of people who aren't followers of Jesus.

I think we live with a lot of guilt about the way we come across to non-believers.

Some of that guilt is self imposed.

But if we follow Paul's thinking here, we should try to understand that the very essence of our lives - our connection to God & His Holy Spirit living in us - engender a strongly negative response from people who don't follow Jesus.

And that negative response is completely normal.

I would hope that this would motivate us to deal with people in a more compassionate, understanding way.

The Holy Spirit inside us really disturbs them - as He should.

And therefore our attempts at connecting should be tempered with a real attempt to be gentle.

Think about the reality of this situation & how it should make us more understanding of the responses we get from people.

I hope all this made sense - sometimes it makes sense to me when I write it but may not when you read it 😎