The Devil Uses Febreze

We’ve all seen those commercials—the ones where unsuspecting souls are sent into dirty, dingy, disgusting places wearing blindfolds. Squeezing pillows on a nasty sofa, standing in a kitchen with putrefying fish on the counter, or sitting on a crusty bed with grungy sheets, they tell how wonderful the room smells, how the scent makes them feel as though they are at the beach, in a meadow, or wrapped in warm, freshly washed linens.

And then the blindfolds are removed.

To the surprise of the participants, they aren’t in lovely places—they’re in gross rooms they’d never willingly go into; they’ve been fooled by the power of Febreze. Because they lost their vision, they trust the air around them, assuming that because it smells good, it is good.

Stench serves a purpose. It indicates that something is dead, rotten, unclean, or dangerous. It makes us aware there is a problem; it is a warning to stay away; it is an indicator that something needs to be removed. Sometimes decay cannot be visually observed because it is taking place beneath the surface; it is the stink that gives it away.

And this is why the devil uses Febreze.

Filling the air with pleasant fragrances, he covers the stink of warning. He prepares things ahead of time—making what is disgusting smell pleasant and what is foul seem sweet. He masks the odor of sin and death with aerosol freshness; he blindfolds us and tricks us into going places we’d  never willingly go. And because we’ve lost our vision, we trust the air around us. We assume we’re okay because it smells so good. We don’t realize our own spiritual decay because Satan has used Febreze.

Our vision gets blurry or obstructed because we don’t read God’s word and pray daily, and so we begin to trust the air around us. We don’t realize we’ve been blindfolded. We who are sinful by nature begin to trust ourselves, not comprehending that the freshness we sense around us isn’t God, but merely aerosol, vapor, a covering for the stench we don’t recognize as our own. That’s how he gets us—slowly, methodically, fragrance by fragrance.

We must pray and read God’s word daily—this is our defense against Satan’s Febreze. Only the truth of God’s word can reveal the odor of our dead places and show us how to properly dispose of them. It is unpleasant and difficult at times, but it must be done, because in the end, He is returning for a clean and spotless bride, not one that just smells clean. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Sam.16:7).

Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. – 1 Peter 5:8 (HCSB)

Linking with:

Laura @ http://www.beholdingglory.com/
Jennifer @ http://studiojru.com/blog/
Michelle @ http://www.nictomsmom.blogspot.com/
Stacy @ http://www.heartprintsofgod.com/