This may sound foolish, but I often pray that I would sense God’s presence more. I want to know the fragrance of Christ — to see Him more clearly, to hear His voice more succinctly, to sense HIs touch, and taste of His goodness. Usually, God answers those prayers through the lives of others.
I have many childhood memories of coming home to the aroma of my mom’s freshly baked bread. Her down-home cooking often filled the little country kitchen with hard-to-resist savory smells. One time, a mouse had crawled into a small crevice in that same kitchen to die. The putrid smell of its decaying body tainted everything. My parents ferociously searched to remove the source and clear the air of the offensive odor.
Two opposing memories! Same kitchen! Two radically different aromas! Depending on the day, a visitor might easily form quite different judgments of my mother’s homemaking skills. Some might understand what an excellent homemaker she was, while others would question it!
“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life...”
2 Corinthians 2:15-16
Judgments
People had quite opposing views of Jesus as well.
“There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.”
John 7:12
Our preconceived ideas often distort our views of people. If we believe people to be good, we will see the good in them. If we hold judgment against them, however, we will immediately view them with suspicious. Why? Is it them? Or is it us?
Jesus was and is the Perfect Son of God. Yet, few people possessed the spiritual sense to recognize Him. The same holds true today.
I have experienced enough to know that people’s perception of me is just as tainted. If they believe me to be good, they will see me through rose-colored glasses. If they perceive me to be bad, nothing good I do will change their minds.
Praise the Lord! The opinions of others never define who we are. For this reason,
“Our only goal is to please God. We want to please him whether we live here or there. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged.”
2 Corinthians 5:9-11
Fragrance of Christ
When we anticipate the fragrance of Christ, we will smell His essence everywhere we go. When we desire to see Him in a situation, we will. If our ears are open to His instruction, we will hear and receive it. If, however, our senses turn toward the negative, we will only notice negative things.
Just as we don’t base a judgment of ourselves on either praise or ridicule, we should carefully form our opinions about others.
I once read a story about a man who thought everything smelled odorous — in his house, along the street, and even in his office. The putrid odor seemed to fill the entire world! After a long, dismal day, he returned home. While washing his face, he realized, to his horror, that he had Limburger Cheese stuck on the end of his nose. The foul odor that followed him throughout the day came from no one but himself!
“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”
Ephesians 5:2
Love, above all else, enables us to activate our spiritual senses to smell the fragrance of Christ in those around us.
Activation
“Simple says! Hard does!” as the old saying goes.
“We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing,” the Bible says. We are! You might think, Others maybe! But not me. The Bible doesn’t say that we will be, could be, or should be, but rather that we already are.
How? There is only one answer — Christ in us, our hope of glory! Paul adds one important reminder,
“…And who is adequate for such a task as this?”
2 Corinthians 2:16
None of us measure up or qualify. But, in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit, all of us can say with Paul, “We are!” You are and I am the fragrance of Christ to a world with Limburger Cheese stuck to their noses, believing everything and everyone stinks!
“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.”
2 Corinthians 2:15
To some, we will smell like my mother’s fresh baked bread, and they will want to sit with us and enjoy the aroma of God’s presence. To others, we will smell more like a decaying mouse — repulsive and offensive.
By His grace alone, we are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.” His opinion of us is the only one that matters. Let’s spread the aroma of Jesus to those around us, until the only thing they smell, see, hear, and sense is Jesus working in, through, and around us.
Bless you, my friends!
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