Fragrance

I wonder how many of us can say we have the aroma or fragrance of Christ in our lives?  Paul claims that, that is what we have, when he sent his second letter to the Corinthian church; please read 2 Corinthians 2:12-17, “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.”

Question: Are we a stench to those that we come in contact with or are we a sweet aroma by the way we act and by the way we love?  I remember many times when talking to people about God’s Word through the years that I was so dogmatic about the Word it seemed to have to be my way or the highway; there was no middle ground.  Paul says knowledge puffs up, and I have to admit I was full of pride and I have repented and I am studying and, with the Lord’s help, trying to be a more loving, patient and kind person.

Let me tell you, the Lord knows how to humble a prideful person and He is not afraid to do just that.  Even today sometimes I stick my foot in my mouth, so to speak, and have to repent and try to do better.  We can have all the Bible knowledge or any other knowledge about different things, but if we don’t present it in a kind and patient way we may lose the person or people that are listening.

When Paul said that knowledge puffs up, he also said that love builds up.  I know when Paul spoke about this, that knowledge puffs up but love builds up, he was talking about food sacrifices and idols and causing your brother to stumble which is not love.  I believe there are many ways to cause our brothers and sisters to stumble.  Think of this, we can preach or teach the truth and not really live that truth out in our lives.

Read what Paul says to the Jews in Romans 2:17-22, “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?”  

If we teach or preach or even witness and live another way we can cause our brothers and sisters to stumble and hurt our testimony and grieve the Spirit of God.  I think many of us can relate to what I am saying, and if this is you, you need to repent and ask the Lord to forgive you and make it right if you can with whomever you have hurt!!  When we say we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and our neighbor as ourselves we need to show it with our actions.  Love isn’t just a word that many of us just throw around when it seems convenient, but love is an action word and we need to back it up by the way we live!!  Maybe I need to refresh your mind on what love really is.

Please read 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”  

If we put on love and put it into practice, we will have the fragrance of the Lord in our lives.  I have heard it said, you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar!!  So let’s do our part to have that sweet smelling aroma in our lives while pleasing our Savior and our Lord by loving Him first and also our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in the Lord!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and my prayer is that this Tidbit will encourage you and the Lord will use it to further His kingdom through your lives!!