What's That Smell?! – I like it!

I’m a guy. I have 2 teenage boys. I have played all sports, college football, coached many sports, and have spent hours in locker rooms and weight rooms. I know about smelly things and people. I have also been around enough teenage boys who try to overuse the Body Spray and end up driving the girls away and making everyone cough and gag. But recently I was getting ready for an outing and sprayed my Old Spice (old man’s Body Spray) and one of my daughters said, “I like how daddy smells”. So, what was the difference? One was repulsive and to another was a wonderful smell.

The Apostle Paul, also a man familiar with smelly places and people, wrote:

“But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

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.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

Our lives give off a smell. And let me just say, Paul was talking to Christians! Brothers and sisters, Paul was challenging us to live a life that spreads the “Aroma of Christ”. So, let us start there. What does your life smell like?

God uses us. That in and of itself is amazing. God uses us to follow Christ in a procession. That means we follow in His footsteps, say the things He said, do the things He did, have the same attitude He had, and treat people the same way He treated people. When we do that, we are the “Aroma of Christ”.

“Our lives” are the Christ-like fragrance. That is all encompassing; what we say, what we do, how we treat others, and our attitudes towards those who are like us, and those who are different. Maybe the most difficult, those who are our enemies. I have to admit, my “fragrance” is not always pleasant, especially to those in my own home. “But thank God! He continues to lead me”.

The later part of the above quote talks about two different groups of people. When we are living the “Aroma of Christ” it will be perceived differently by people. Some people do not want to hear it, “I don’t talk religion or politics”, “Don’t shove your religion down my throat”, “There is more than one way to God”, “Nobody knows the truth of life after death”, “Don’t judge me”, and many more objections. Sometimes our “fragrance” is not to blame, Jesus was ridiculed and rejected. More than once people were so hateful they tried to kill Him.

But there is another group. The group that smells something, is attracted to it, wants more of it, and wants to find the source. The truth is, it is the fragrance of Christ, not us. It is His aroma living in us, through us, and over us. He leads this triumphal procession, and His fragrance covers us and flows to other people. To those who do respond, it is a “life-giving fragrance”. Following in a procession means keeping our eyes on the leader, following where He goes, and doing what He does.

This fragrance, this aroma, gives life. It is the smell of Heaven. We may not be able to fully see what is giving off a fragrance, but we know it smells good and we long for more. We do get a whiff, a faint and pleasing smell, but not the full aroma of Heaven. One day though, Jesus has promised to come again and He is, the source, of the life-giving fragrance.

I pray that we as followers in the procession will reek, yes, reek, with the Aroma of Christ. I pray for those who smell doom and death, that your hearts, minds, and noses will be changed. And I pray that those who do smell that fragrance, that sweet aroma, you will join the procession and will experience the Life-Giving Fragrance of Christ.