Well, it has definitely been a long time. Apologies for the lack of posts the past couple of months!
This morning has been an early one for me. It's my first morning in Budapest, and the sun rises at an early 4 AM, so I've been at it since about 5:30 this morning. While I usually meet an early morning with contempt, this morning has been a wonderful time to learn how to use a french press, enjoy the fruits of my newly found skill, and sit down to drink; not only coffee with cream, but also the Word of God.
Wow.
Have you ever thought about how crazy that is? I mean, I just finished reading a message.... from the real, true, existing God. Mind-blowing.
Anyways, after reading a couple chapters worth in 1 Kings concerning Solomon's specs of the temple, I turned to my New Testament reading for some of Paul's teachings in 2 Corinthians. Sometimes I'll read a passage that makes me say to myself, "Wow, that's incredible... I wonder, how many others have yet to be impacted by this?" Hence my urge to write, the shocking realization that it's been way too long, and now here I am.
As we read Paul's epistles, we can''t help but notice his ridiculous obsession with metaphors. Almost every "catch-phrase" involves a metaphor... "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race," "Run in such a way to receive the prize," etc. In chapters 2-4 of 2 Corinthians, Paul pulls out all the stops on his metaphors, and in doing so paints a spectacular picture of the Christian's relationship with Christ. While I want to talk about all of them, I'll just focus on the first. Let's take a look.
The Aroma of Christ.
"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, and the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" -2 Corinthians 2:15-16
To be honest, this phrase has always puzzled me. Not often do we see Christ compared with a smell, and Paul doesn't give much of an explanation for this unique comparison. But I did a little bit of studying, and found some amazing stuff. First, while Paul uses the Greek word osme for "fragrance" in verse 14, a word that can be used of good and bad smells, he uses the word eueida for "aroma" in verse 15, a word that characterizes only pleasurable smells!
Second, this aroma is experienced by God (aroma of Christ to God), giving a picture of God's delight in His children's teaching of the gospel. Finally, this teaching is shown to be a fragrance of life to those who are saved, and a fragrance of death to those who are lost. Therefore the Gospel brings hope of life to those in Christ, but the scent of certain death to those in sin, making evident their need for salvation.
When you think about it, an aroma is one of the most powerful metaphors, because smell is one of the strongest senses of the human body. While it may seem that our sense of smell is inferior to those of taste, sight, touch, and hearing, it is actually quite impacting. Our smell has the strongest tie to our memory out of all 5 of our senses. Its for this reason the the smell of salon products will always instantly bring me back to Christmas in the early to mid 90's. We would spend Christmas at my grandparents house in Illinois, and the strong smell of the beauty shop my grandmother ran in the basement stuck with me.
If our words, actions, and lives are an aroma of Christ, that means our interactions with people cause them to "smell" Christ. In interactions with unbelievers, the aroma we carry will cause them to catch the presence of a gift they don't possess. Paul tells us that it is the smell of death... to the unbeliever, our aroma is the confirmation that they are not yet saved by God's glorious grace. In many cases, this will be likely to instill a desire for the aroma they smell to be an aroma of life to them.
In interactions with fellow believers, this means that the aroma brings them back to an overwhelming memory of Christ's love. Whether it be a simple meeting at a coffeehouse, a Sunday morning at church, or a game of frisbee at the park; if we have the aroma of Christ, just being around other Christians will encourage them and strengthen them in Christ, while the aroma they carry will strengthen us as well. That's what true Christian fellowship is; the mutual strengthening and encouraging of believers in Christ.
Is Christ so evident in your thoughts and actions that you give off His aroma wherever you go?
