My dear readers,

Do you smell bad?

Proverbs 13:5: “A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.”

Body odour is a strange phenomenon because even after the body departs, the odour remains! One would think that once the source of the smell leaves, so should the smell. But that is not necessarily the case. Those who do not realise this might have lost friends unknowingly. Not many, especially those with a very acute sense of smell, will want to go near or remain with them for too long, as the smell can be intolerable. Due to this phenomenon, many take great care of their hygiene, especially in hot, humid countries where perspiration is the norm when one leaves the house or comes out of a cool shower! It is good to have proper hygiene, such as showering before leaving home every morning, especially when we know we will be out of the house most of the day.

The Bible is not about physical hygiene, even though it can sometimes be applied. The Bible is a spiritual book; therefore Proverbs 13:5 is about spiritual hygiene. When Jeroboam deceived Israel at the beginning of the divided kingdom, he told them that the golden calves he made and placed in Dan and Bethel represented the LORD. This deception was the “odour” of a lie, the consequences of which continued after “the body left”, i.e. Jeroboam’s death. Long after Jeroboam’s bones were reduced to dust, the lie of the golden calves continued to plague all succeeding dynasties so that there was not a single good king in Israel for the next 200-plus years until her destruction by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.

The literal translation is, “Feigned words, the righteous hates, but a wicked man smells bad and comes to shame.” No stink is worse than the stink of lying. In its simplest form, it breaks trust. Trust is a precious commodity that takes years to cultivate and build. The more time is spent building trust, the more precious it is. Decades of trust built can be destroyed by one single

act of betrayal. Lies will follow almost immediately to cover up the sin committed. It is a matter of time before the sin is exposed. The trust will have eroded to nearly zero, even after forgiveness and reconciliation. Trust will have to be rebuilt again, but this time, it will be from a very pessimistic level of mistrust and betrayal. It will take a long time to rebuild the foundation of trust, especially between two parties whose ages are no longer on their side.

Proverbs 13:5a warns that feigned words are hated by the righteous. The righteous are believers whose hallmark is like that of their God, who cannot lie. God always tells the truth. No matter how tiny, there is not one iota of falsehood-like mistakes in the Bible. The Bible was perfectly given and preserved by God Himself and is inerrant in everything written and infallible in everything it teaches.

How to smell good always – The righteous are born-again believers whom God has imputed them with the righteousness of Christ upon salvation. Man is completely depraved, for he is dead in sin and spiritually blind. There is none righteous, no not one! The only way the righteous will always smell good in God’s sight is to hate feigned words in every form. The righteous one must hate them with perfect hatred, whether they are complete or partial lies. In this way, he will not lie, and whenever he does (out of a sudden fear for his life like Peter denying the Lord three times), he will repent and return to the Lord by God’s grace. Because he hates lying, he will also hate liars. He cannot tolerate liars. He hates being manipulated by liars. To protect himself from such an eventuality, he will do due diligence whenever someone tells him something about another person. He will not be swift to come to a conclusion and condemn until a careful investigation has been made. Too many relationships have been ruined, and people have been unjustly castigated for their failure to inquire diligently.

Once the righteous practises this righteous hatred for all things deceitful, he will gain a Christ-honouring reputation of trustworthiness. People who know and work with him will entrust him with more responsibilities and ministries. His dependability brings glory to Christ, for he conducts himself like his Master. People love to have him in their lives. They love to work with him. They trust him, and he is a blessing to them. 

What makes a person smell bad? – On the other hand, the wicked person smells terrible. He is not born again in Christ, even if he may think he is. He may fool many with his pretentious Christian behaviour, even worming his way into the leadership of the church. But like a dog returning to its own vomit, lying is second nature to his darkened soul. Because he is spiritually blind, he sincerely thinks he is telling the truth when he is telling half-truths, including blatant lies. He cannot tell the difference. This is the nature of the wicked, like a man who has body odour and does not know or even admit that he has body odour. When others try to help him, he refuses to believe it and, therefore, will not take the necessary steps to change and to repent. He thinks he is a believer and that he is not lying; his odour of lies will remain with him till he dies and finds himself cast into hell which will be too late then. Proverbs 13:5 describes him as one who “cometh to shame.”

The word “shame” means disgrace. If he is disgraced on earth, it is actually a blessing. He is given the opportunity to repent. The shame is before men only, especially if he has earned some pride-filled titles for himself, like being an ordained minister, pastor, elder, president, principal of a Bible College or seminary or having been given some accolades by men. But if his pride and arrogance stand in the way of repentance, he will refuse to suffer disgrace before men.

If he refuses to repent and stubbornly persists in justifying his lies and falsehoods, the final disgrace will be before Jesus Christ on the day of judgment. Jesus Christ will cast him to hell, and that disgrace is final, and he will spend eternity in hell where a never-ending great torment and pain and gnashing of teeth lasts forever.

People, especially believers, will see him as a sham. He may have deceived them initially when they first knew him, but after a while, his lies and falsehood will smell from the pores of his being. Many will avoid him. Those who stand with him are either like him in their wicked ways or have some personal agenda for gain. They will use each other until one has “used up” the other or when personal gain suffers, and then they will “throw each other under the bus”. The wicked care only for themselves and everyone else is a stepping stone for glory and personal gain.

He who smells bad to others does not smell bad to himself, and people like him have the same body odour.

How do you smell?