Fragrance. Aroma. Such picturesque, pleasing words.

What do they bring to mind for you? Walking through a garden on a morning in the Spring? Can you smell the flowers planted along a walkway when the dew is still fresh and a gentle breeze filters through the trees before the heat of summer arrives?

Perhaps it is your favorite essential oil diffused as you drift off to sleep. Maybe those two words bring a person to mind who is special to you. As long as you have known them, they have been identified by that scent.

Fragrance and aroma are words used by the Lord to describe our life as His children. Our life in Christ as His disciples starts when we trust in His finished work on the Cross to pay the debt of our sin (death) that He might offer life (resurrection) to those who trust in Him as their sinless Substitute. Jesus offers forgiveness of sin to all who believe in Him.

In the sacrificial death of Christ, we can see the truth of Mark Twain’s word picture for forgiveness. He wrote, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” We wronged Christ as ungodly sinners, enemies of God, those who are helpless spiritually (Romans 5:6-11). We deserved wrath and Jesus graced us with forgiveness.

You might say that He left His fragrance upon us. We crushed Him with our heel and He infused our lives with the aroma of grace. We were deserving of wrath and Jesus forgave us of our sins, leading to an eternal relationship through faith in Him.

Like all God’s good gifts, He wants us to manage this aroma well. We are to be good stewards. Good stewards are givers not getters. We must be ready to serve and not look to be served. So what do we do with this fragrant aroma of grace expressed in forgiveness?

We must give it away. Our journey on earth as representatives of Christ is designed to draw others to Him through love, grace, and the verbal gospel. Paul wrote…

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ,
and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and
among those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15

The “us” here refers to Paul and Timothy who ministered to the church at Corinth. However, God’s Word does not limit the gospel witness to first-century apostles. Each of us is given that responsibility, both individually and corporately as a church family.

We must decide each moment of each day if we are going to be the fragrant aroma of Christ, being used to draw people to Him. Or if we are going to be as smelly as socks worn for exercise and left on the floor of the closet for a couple of days.

Let’s represent Christ well. In our attitude, actions, and words, may we be a fragrant aroma. May people find Jesus attractive in us. May they come to carry His scent as well.

Love and blessings,
Dave