Word-Filled Wednesday ~#95~ The Sweet Aroma of Christ

"But thanks be to God, Who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life." ~2 Corinthians 2:14-16

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." ~John 8:32

Were you raised in a Christian family? Have you gone to church all your life? Did you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord at an early age? Praise the Lord ~ what a blessing. Everyone has sin to repent of and the need to be forgiven, but some of us had the blessing of getting there before some of the rest of us.


Others of us had the mixed blessing of having come to the Lord later in life. I was 23 years old when accepted the Lord and had lived a life of great sin, of which I had no excuse except for my own sin nature. To the world, I was "normal" ~ I had great parents who loved me, taught me morals and some of the things of the Lord; I had great friends (and thankfully, many have come to the Lord in the years since I did) but many of those friends were living the life I was living ~ well intentioned, but we were "the blind leading the blind." (Luke 6:39) 

Since the time I became a Christian, I have noticed that there are occasions when I am not "welcome" among some company ~ unsaved family, old friends . . . If any conversation lends itself to the mention of Jesus or what He is doing in my life, it's as though I just set off a stink bomb in the middle of the room ~ noses turn up, feathers get ruffled, snide "jokes" are made, and some even walk away cursing. Just at the mention of Jesus' name. Have you noticed that about yourselves? 

But it's not us, it's the fragrance of Jesus that we carry into our fallen world. Spiritual warfare rages all around us, even among some of the people we love the most, and that warfare causes our godly "aroma" to waft through the air like the stink of a fresh skunk on a country road.

And then to others ~ those who already know Jesus as their Savior OR those who are beginning to listen to the wooing of the Holy Spirit ~ we are the sweet aroma of the earth after a sweet, spring rain. We are the aroma of One Who loves them with an everlasting love and wants every living soul to fall in love with Him. We are the aroma of the One Who holds the keys to their eternity ~ Who can forgive them and wash away the stench of their sin. 

If you know Jesus as your Savior, you carry around the precious aroma of salvation, of forgiveness, of light in the darkness, of real truth ~ you carry around the sweet "offense" of the presence of Jesus wherever you go (Is. 8:14). What a privilege.  

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><