When Febreze first entered the market, it was sold as a way to eliminate bad odors. Surprisingly, considering all of the bad smells we have to deal with on a regular basis, it didn’t sell that well. There might be two reasons for this. One, people don’t like to be reminded or admit that they might live in a home with bad smells. And second, there is something called olfactory fatigue in which we can stop smelling a particular scent, even a very strong or unpleasant scent, if we have been exposed to it for a long period of time. So, the people working on Febreze didn’t change the basic odor-eliminating formula but they added pleasant scents to their sprays and sales suddenly increased tremendously. The pleasant scents of lavender or fresh linen or citrus don’t actually help to eliminate bad odors, but they do encourage people to use Febreze and thus maintain good cleaning habits for their homes. Why did I bring all of this up? A lot of us treat repentance like those early versions of Febreze. We don’t really want to engage in repentance very much because we don’t want to be reminded that we are unclean and perhaps sometimes stink to high heaven. And maybe we think that we don’t need repentance because we have that spiritual olfactory fatigue - we are so passed feeling that we don’t even recognize how damaged our souls have become. But if we treat repentance like the early versions of Febreze then of course we are going to be sluggish or resistant to applying it in our lives. Repentance is not only an unpleasant chore. It is not supposed to be some constant reminder that we are wicked or evil or undeserving of God’s love. If we are struggling with repentance, then we need to plead with our Heavenly Father to layer in the pleasant scents of the fruits of the Spirit. Repenting should be just as satisfying to us as all of those people in Febreze commercials who with a big smile on their face inhale deeply the scent of cleanliness after they have sprayed Febreze. Repentance is not just about purging away guilt. It should bring with it joy and peace and a lightness of spirit that comes from our sins being washed away. If we can learn to look for and recognize and appreciate the beautiful, soothing, softening grace and mercy and joy that are an integral part of repentance, then we will be much more likely to develop a habit of constant repentance.
