“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 NLT
I’m really a smell fanatic, or maybe a smellunatic. Most normal things don’t bother me at all. I’m not a big fragrance person with colognes or perfumes, but I’m really sensitive (annoyed) by certain smells. I can smell mechanical or electrical dangers long before most. I don’t mind the smell of Skunks. Tuna doesn’t bother me, but old fishy smells do. Robin can smell the effects of garlic and asparagus after someone eats it, I cannot. I love nature smells like ocean, mountain, rain, redwoods and desert.
The Apostle Paul has used the idea of scent before. Someone blogged that there are 52 aroma references in the Bible, Paul wrote about all 5 in the New Testament. I like the word aroma instead of odor, it feels more majestic. Paul believes that there is a Christ-like fragrance that believers carry on themselves. He uses the word “euódia” a good smell.
If life itself had a smell, emitting a fragrance, it would smell like Jesus? That’s a wild thought! I mean, He is God, the creator of all things – life itself. I’ve been a part of the “Church,” all of my adult life. I don’t mean as an attender or a congregant. I’ve been a part of the leadership in local churches as a career. I work for God. I work in His Church. I have come to believe that I want to be part of a life-giving church, not a life-sucking church. I want to BE a church that gives off the aromatic scents of LIFE. Paul says that’s what we are supposed to smell like, especially to believers.
To the world, to a dying, self-determined culture that wants to cast off all constraints of moral sensibility, the smell of Jesus presents itself as death. Do I stink to those who are rebellious towards God? Maybe! But to those are searching, hurting, and desperate, my prayer is that I smell like the ocean breeze, the mountain air, the summer rain – life itself! Paul uniquely writes, these contrasting phrases to those who are in process of being saved and those in process of being condemned. We are either “life to life” or “death-to-death.” Same Jesus, but Him in us, smells very different to folks, depending on their heart and eternal determination. Back to church folk… I not only want to be a church that is life-giving, I also want the foyer aroma of our lives to smell like life itself – like Jesus on resurrection morning!
Prayer
Dad,
Oh my goodness! I do not want to stink. I certainly don’t want to be or live a stinky life, smelling like death around those heading towards heaven! And, as much as I do not want to stink as a “in your nose” reminder to those destined to harden their heart towards you, I get it. When I smell like Jesus around people who are genuinely offended by Him, I guess that’s going to happen. Please, wash me, clean me and let me smell like Christ!