The Prince Who Smells Good

Different cultures use a great variety of words and expressions for "God." In Madagascar, an island country off the southeast coast of Africa, they call God Andriamanitra. This means "the prince who smells good."

The implication of Andriamanitra is that Jesus lives!

All the ancestors, to whom Madagascans would pray, are dead, and they would smell bad as their bodies rotted in the grave, just as Lazarus would have despite the use of fragrant oils in the embalming process (John 11:39).

However, Jesus, the greatest ancestor, whose sacrifice was a "sweet-smelling aroma" (Ephesians 5:2, NKJ), has risen from the dead, and he is alive, filling the believer with the breath of eternal life.

This idea has a direct application for us in our Christian walk. The apostle Paul reminds us that Christian workers are to God the fragrance of the living resurrected Christ. This fragrance is "perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing. To those who are perishing we are a fearful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved we are a life-giving perfume" (2 Corinthians 2:16, New Living Translation).

As we do the work of Christ we dispense the refreshing, life-giving perfume of the Prince who smells good!

James Henderson