The Fragrance of Christ

2 Corinthians 2:15, “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”

I was walking through a mall shop one day and they were selling all types of perfumes and cologne.  The smell was overwhelming as all the smells hit my nose.  I was bombarded with so many scents that it became difficult to detect one from another.  As I sniffed fragrances to see which one I wanted to buy, I was lost due to other smells around.  Just as perfumes and colognes, we are a fragrance.  The fragrance of Christ.

We are to God so much.  We are His people.  His creation.  A combination of body and soul unlike anything else in all of creation.  We are capable of so much to include walking, running, thinking, and feeling.  We have so many senses, emotions and capabilities.  We are known by God individually, as He knows the hairs on our head and the thoughts that we have.  Each of us are different and yet to God, we are all unique and special.

We are the fragrance of Christ.  Sin, which came into the world long ago, made us smell like rotten garbage.  We are tainted by a smell of refuse that gets into our very soul.  The sin of lying has a smell.  The sin of envy has a smell.  Each sin has a particular odor and we become like the example of the mall shop I listed above.  We have so many “smells” that we become confused and confusing.  People see us and “smell” us coming.  This is why we, as Christ followers, need to daily put on Christ.  He has only one scent.  His scent is sweeter than anything we can smell.  His scent is greater than all other scents.  When we put on Christ, we take on His scent.  It masks all the other scents that we have so that others smell Jesus on us.

To the saved and the unsaved, we need to smell the same.  We cannot allow ourselves to be bogged down with sin and corrupting our “scent.”  We need to daily (sometimes hourly or by the minute) apply Jesus to our lives so that our scent is Jesus only.  We are the messengers of Jesus.  How we talk and act is a reflection of Jesus.  Do we want to have a sweet smell or an off-putting smell?  Do we want to attract people to Christ or repel them from Him?  For the sake of the perishing, we need to direct them to Jesus.  For the saved, we need to be genuine to them and ourselves.

We are God’s people.  Every single one of us has a duty to serve God.  Let us every day find ourselves in the Word and in prayer and applying the “scent” of Jesus, not only for God, but for others.  We want to make our Daddy in Heaven proud.  We need to work with and have His Son on us all the time so that we make be an example to others.  The kingdom of Heaven is at hand; let us use our scents to bring people to God today.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You that we can come before You with the sweetest of scents.  We did not always smell like this and we have often sinned.  We thank You for sending Your Son to come and be our sweet-smelling fragrance.  To take our stench that is sin and nail it to the cross.  To take our stench and throw it into Hell itself.  We can be clean and smell amazing because of Jesus.  We can come to You and You will invite us in.  We owe everything to You.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Called by God by Name

Isaiah 43:1, “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.'”

We all have a name.  A first name, a middle name, and a last name.  Some have more than one last name, more than one middle name, or no middle name at all.  With the over 6 billion people on Earth currently and the trillions of people who have ever lived, each has a name that they were known by.  God knows everyone’s name that ever lived, is living, or will live and calls us all by our name.

God created us.  He made us all unique and different from each other.  We all are created in the image of God and yet we do not all look the same.  We are not a “cookie-cutter” creation that all look the same and talk the same and act the same.  We all act independently of each other for the most part.

God also formed us when He created us.  From the time before we were in the womb, God has known us.   He knew what we would be called and knew all about us.  Every person on Earth is the same situation for God.  He knows all things according to all people.  All people are tied to God in that He is the Father of all.  The Heavenly Father that made us all who we are.

We failed God though.  From the time of Adam and Eve to now, we have sinned.  We have fallen short of God’s best.  We have let down our Heavenly Father more times than we can count.  We fail miserably at being the best we can be.  Even when we try our hardest, our best is still not good enough for God.  There is hope though.  There is hope in Christ.

God sent His Son to redeem us.  Jesus lived a life as an Earthly example of how to be, died a human death to show that He loves us, and came back to life to show that He can conquer death, sin, and Hell.  Not only does God know us by name, He sent His Son for every single one of us.  We all have the opportunity to know God on a deep and personal level.  We are, after all, sons and daughters of the Most High God.  He is our Father.  Unlike our earthly fathers, God is perfect and is always there to talk to and will listen to you.  He cares for you more than you know.

We are God’s  Regardless if we acknowledge God or not, it does not change the fact that we are God’s creation.  No one created themselves.  Every birth happens because God.  Every death happens accord to the plan of God.  Nothing is outside of God’s control and nothing happens that God does not know about.  He is everywhere and all-knowing after all.  He cares about His creation all the same, but humans hold a special place for Him.  More than the animals, plants or anything else.  This is why we have souls and the intellect we have.  It is because God made us special.  More special than any other created thing.

We are formed.  We are named.  We live.  We die.  From the time of formation to the time of death, this is the time we can spend praising and thanking God.  We can serve God and honor God.  We can also choose to ignore God.  Either way, God will call us and talk to us.  It is up to us to listen.  Those who listen to Him will be called home to Heaven to be with God and those who choose to ignore will end up in eternal torment forever.  Listen or don’t.  The choice is ours.  Choose wisely.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you that You know us.  I love that I serve a God that knows my name.  You care about us so much and love us so much.  We are not worthy of being redeemed or cared for, yet You do anyways.  You say that we are worth it.  You say that we are loved.  You call us sons and daughters.  We are Yours.  You are ours.  You are our God.  Help us to always cling to You and stay with You.  You are never-changing.  Let us listen to You always and forever.  Let us enter into Heaven with You and be free indeed.

In Your name we pray,

Amen