Psalm 34:8 declares, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Here at North Holland Reformed we have it on our sign at the Ottawa County Fair food booth that we run each year. It is an open invitation and an allowance for someone to make their own decision, both about our food and about the God we worship. I argue it is in fact an evangelism verse by nature of its invitation. Evangelism can be intimidating. Yet it doesn’t need to be harder than what Philip did with Nathanael regarding Jesus, “‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip” (John 1:46). Centuries before that first introduction to Jesus came the words of Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” an Old Testament version of “Come and see, make up your own mind, explore that matter to your own conclusion.” This is evangelism, sharing the Good News but not forcefeeding it. We do our faithful part but it is the Spirit’s work to bring conviction to its holy conclusion. Evangelism comes down to two parts on our end: testimony and witness. Testimony has a simple litmus test: would you actually and truthfully say that following the Lord is good? Can you testify from your life story how you have found Psalm 34:8 to be true? If so, you can expect that if someone gets a taste of following Jesus that they will also taste and see that the Lord is good, just like Phiillip and Nathanael and you. Can you testify to that in your own life? Witness is the other element of evangelism. For all that we can testify to and say about God, witness is the area where others can observe if the talk that we talk has made any difference in the walk that we walk. Testimony and witness feed off of each other. In today’s world, we want to know if something is credible, if it is worth following for real. If our testimony says to follow, but our lived witness repels, then what good is our testimony? And if our witness is inviting, but has no testimony or mention of Jesus, then what are we more than good citizens? Hence my simple question with Psalm 34:8, “What do you smell like?” There is a measured and verifiable link between what foods we eat and the odor that our body has. You are what you eat, and you’ll smell like it too! If you interact with people from a different culture who eat different foods, they will smell different. And you’ll smell weird to them too! As Christians, we regularly feast at the Lord’s table celebrating communion, a feast of grace. If grace is what you’re eating, it should have an impact on what you smell like. Specifically for the Christian, the intriguing and sincere scent of our witness is the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). If you smell like hypocrisy, bitterness, judgment, and better-than-thou, then no matter how good your testimony is, I doubt your witness will pass the “smell test.” May we continue throughout all of our years of following Jesus to feast on his Word, grace, law, forgiveness and wisdom; and may we smell like it too! - Pastor Steven