Although I love my job and especially my customers, there are times that it literally stinks.  As in, NOT the aroma of fresh wonderfully cooked chicken, but ODOR.  What kind?  Well if you don’t know, money stinks..mot having it, mind you, but handling it!  It is always dirty, and a lot if times if you sniffed it you would be horrified.  And I will spare you details but where some women keep their money….!!  And them there’s also those lovely exhaust fumes because we are agriculture country and have NO emissions testing…I could barely serve a customer the other day through his truck’s exhaust clouds!  And of course in the 1,000 degree summers we have here, anyone who works hard just..sorry…usually smells midday!

So as one of our pastors was preaching last Sunday about the healing of the ten lepers, and the stench of rotting flesh that lepers give off, I could slightly relate.  And he shared the story of one missionary in Africa who desperately wanted to evangelize in a leper colony, but it took her three different tries before she could overcome the odor!  

And then our pastor transitioned into this thought..when Jesus left the splendor of Heaven..where all was pure and lovely in the very presence of God Himself, what kind of odor did our world give off??  This dirty, nasty, ugly world..compared to what He left.  As I have meditated on that thought this week, God has led me to another aspect all together.

As I work, I ger paid for what I do..and that is a great motivation to go in every day!  AND, I “get paid” in the rich relationships I have formed with so many of my regulars.  AND I am performing a service that most of them want, so it’s all good most days. Now contrast that with what Jesus encountered here!  Not only did this world stink, but no one paid Him, the world hated Him, and even His own disciples didn’t understand Him!  

But the worst smell of all?  The odor of SIN.  In all His life to that point, Jesus had never been face to face, elbow to elbow with SIN..and it had to have been a shock to experience that.  The sights, the sounds, and the attitudes of unredeemed mankind surrounded Him….

AND YET! The beauty of Christmas is that He came…volunteered..was willing to endure the stench..not so He could give us a warm fuzzy holiday in December each year, but so He could live and DIE for us to save us!  That is worthy of praise!  Because after all, the most I ever have to do is wash my hands or grab the hand sanitizer or sniff a lemon..and the odors I encounter are gone.  And I go home and don’t have to deal with them till the next day.  Jesus didn’t have that option…it just got smellier and smellier for Him as He ministered..and He had to die and resurrect to permanently remove that odor from those of us who believe in Him!

So now when I encounter “smells” at work, it’s just another reminder of all that Jesus has done for me..and how there are still those He wants to wash clean!