Knowing God - John 11:40

Then Jesus said,

"Did I not tell you that if you believed,

you would see the glory of God?"

John 11:40

 

I'll bet you can't guess what two words are the lead-in and the context for this verse.

 

"Bad odor."

 

Lazarus has just died. And Jesus has intentionally delayed his arrival. (Apparently a few of his followers needed to see a greater glory than just another healing.) They needed to see the true power and the full glory of God. So the story starts with a dead man lying in a tomb for enough days to create a bad odor.

 

This world stinks.

 

Wait ... not all the time and not on all the days ... but if we put our all of our hope in worldly things, the end result will always be a deep stink. Death.

 

Jesus offered an alternative: "If you believe, you will smell the glory of God." Now, he didn't exactly say it quite like that, but I think that's what God's love promises us: we will smell grace, feel his embrace, hear his whispers of love, and see the glory of heaven.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who smells

(wait ... I mean a guy who uses

his nose to smell the glory of God)