God's Fragrance

If you were to enter our home it would not be unusual for you to be greeted by a beautiful fragrance from a scented candle. Our home is not unique. Home fragrances are sold by the billions in this country. Fragrances are a science and marketed with great fervor. There are home fragrances, personal fragrances, bathing fragrances, fragrances for special occasions and fragrances to produce specific results. Fragrances permeate an area grabbing our attention, whether we want them to or not. They refuse to go unnoticed.

Paul refers to God’s people as the “fragrance” and “aroma” of God. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and though us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are God’s aroma of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15a).

The images are pungent. As trite as some of the images that come to mind are, they all convey something about who and what we are in the world. We are not only the light of the world; we are the scented candle in the world. When life presses upon us, we, like the spray bottle, release His fragrance. As we interact with people Christ is revealed as definitely as cologne or perfume. In is unmistakably clear, as we journey with Christ, who leads us in triumphant procession, we spread “everywhere” the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. Through us His aroma permeates our surroundings grabbing the attention of those around us, drawing their attention, not to us, but to Christ.

Our initial reaction to this passage tends to be, “yeah, that is what we are supposed to be, but…” Yet, note that Paul is not suggesting this is what we are supposed to be, he emphatically declares, “we are!” Granted, even as the texts notes, “who is equal to such a task?” That is why it is essential that we are not trying to be His fragrance, for no one is equal to this. Nonetheless, we are His fragrance. Therefore the question that needs to be asked when His fragrance is not emanating from us in all things, is, why isn’t it? What are we doing to hamper or restrict His aroma emanating from us? What are we doing or not doing that obstructs us from being what we are? We need to do some serious Holy Spirit assisted self-examination with the intention of having God cleanse any impediment and our commitment to, in all things, live out what we are in Him!

We are people sent by God to be His fragrance in a scent-less world. We do not determine whether the aroma is “the scent of death” or “the fragrance of Life”. We are to simply be what we are: the aroma of Christ.