“But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, He has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go He uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume. As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us.” – 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (TLB)
Have you ever been hugged by someone and then realized later on that you actually now smell like them? The fragrance of their perfume or cologne lingered on your skin and clothes. It’s amazing even what a few-second hug can do when transferring an aroma from one person to another.
Practically speaking, we carry the authority and power of the message of Jesus everywhere we go, with the same opportunity to have as great of impact as if we were dosing everyone around us with the strongest, most expensive perfume you could buy. An impact that when we leave someone’s presence, there’s a lingering goodness…sweetness that stirs in them to desire to carry that same fragrance themselves. It’s one way that Jesus makes us stand out from the crowd.
But how are we doing at standing out?
Are we carrying that beautiful sweet aroma that calls out, “oh, that person has been with Jesus!”?
How sad would it be if we had unlimited access to the sweetness of Jesus, and yet walked around smelling like the world? Covered in our own dirt and filth. Jesus paid much too high a price for us to stay in the condition that He found us in. Jesus gave us His Spirit so that we could walk in freedom, be delivered from the traps of this world, and live a life that is abundant in goodness, beauty, and the of the sweetest fragrance.
The key to the quality of aroma that we carry, and the impact that it has on the world around us, is in direct correlation to how much time we’re spending in the presence of Jesus. How much time we’re seeking to know the heart of the Father, and the voice of His Spirit. How much time we are growing in Him, resting in Him, yielding to Him. It’s in our time with Him that He leaves the residue of His presence on us, which blossoms into a fragrance that can’t help but be noticed by others around us.
Dear sisters, let’s make sure we’re spending time with Him today, so we can reflect the aroma of God’s goodness.
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