Dead Flies

 

“Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor.”

—Ecclesiastes 10:1 NKJV

Something ruined! And, it was something with such an intentional, pleasure-causing purpose as an expensive perfume. Now it’s ruined! And, by what? A stray fly coming in through the palace window into the boudoir of a wealthy maiden. The perfume, created with such skill by a talented apothecary expert, totally spoiled by the ugly presence of a filthy, common fly.

When compared to the witness of a fine Christian, we are reminded that even this witness can be spoiled by the entrance of a foul, habitual sin. I love the way that Charles Haddon Spurgeon puts it:

No matter though the vase be alabaster, and the perfume the most delicate, dead flies would destroy the precious nard, and even so minor faults will spoil a fine character. Rudeness, irritability, levity, parsimony [stinginess], egotism, and a thousand other injurious flies have often turned the exquisite perfume of a Christian’s life into a pestilent odor to those who were around him.¹

In comparison, the Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, expresses God’s intent for us to live in such a way so that those around us effectively “smell” the sweet aroma of Christ. He puts it like this:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are perishing.

God’s intention for us, to live in such a way that we spread His Presence like a fine perfume, can be ruined by the entrance of our sinful sloppiness, as though we left the lid off the bottle of perfume and flies entered. We can only remedy this by coming to Him with confession and repentance—to receive His restoration and forgiveness—so that we can have a new start under the power of His Holy Spirit.

During this time of Lent, let us examine our lives for those “dead flies” that mix in the stench of sin with the life-giving perfume of Christ that He created us to exhibit.

May He spread abroad His love through the fragrance of our lives, purified by His precious blood.

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1 Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1964. p. 325.

—Posted: Monday, March 6, 2017