Don't ruin your perfume ! (1)

Tuesday February 15, 2022

Don't ruin your perfume ! (1)

“Dead flies infect and ferment the perfumer's oil ; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and glory.” Ecclesiastes 10.1

The perfumer's oil of which Solomon speaks here was a rare and very expensive perfume that very few people could afford. We all know the anecdote reported in the Gospels, concerning a woman who spread on the feet of Jesus a perfume of pure nard, after having broken the alabaster vase which contained it. Judas in particular was outraged at the thought that this scattering of perfume was the equivalent of a year's salary ! But in the eyes of Jesus this perfume was the expression of this woman's love for Him and announced His approaching death. Yet all it took was a dead fly that fell into this expensive oil to spoil it and make it nauseous. The author of Ecclesiastes adds : “so a little folly outweighs wisdom and glory”. It doesn't take much to ruin a reputation, it only takes a seemingly minor sin to infect our minds. One of Satan's names is Beelzebub, "the prince of demons" (Matthew 9:34). This Greek form of Baal-Zebul, deity of the Philistines, literally means : “the Lord of the flies.” Satan is the one who sends the “flies” into our homes, in order to spoil our intimacy with Jesus. All these “little” sins to which we do not attach much importance, if they are not chased away immediately, will multiply rapidly and infect our home. An unconfessed and uncontrolled addiction will only escalate. Yet one detail is important here : the fly in the perfume is dead. Certainly, it leaves an unpleasant trace, but the strength of the perfume will prevail. Isn't this a picture of the divine oil, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life, only capable of overcoming sin, as soon as we confess it ? Flies cannot survive in oil any more than our sins can survive in the environment of the Holy Spirit. His word for today : Abide in Christ and the “lord of the flies” will flee from you (James 4:4-7) !

Source (His Word for Today)