The Scent of Christ

 By: Lauren Thomas 

The sense of smell is one of the most powerful. This is because the sense of smell is linked to a part of the brain responsible for memory and emotion. This is why a whiff of someone’s perfume in public can take us back to our grandma and our childhood. This is why we love cinnamon – it is linked in our minds to Christmas past and warm, cozy memories.

 

Alternately, smells can trigger painful memories and immediately change our moods. I can smell a certain kind of hand sanitizer and be transported to a hospital room. Then, there are smells that cause immediate disgust and revulsion: fish gone bad, a dead animal, skunk.

Smell is powerful. Maybe that’s why Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2, likened us to an aroma.

 

14 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. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 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?

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NIV

 

According to Paul, God uses us to spread knowledge of Him. This puts the picture in my mind of a diffuser, turned on to disperse a scent into a room. Obviously, Christians don’t literally have a “scent.” But by our lives, by our actions, by our words, we Christians are to disperse/spread/diffuse the knowledge of God everywhere we go. When we walk into a room, or interact with a sales person, or do our jobs, we should bring the scent of Christ.

 

To those being saved, it’s a “pleasing” smell, a good smell. It’s a smell that perhaps reminds our souls of Eden, of our Father, of who He made us to be. But to those who reject Christ… we stink. If we take this too far, the metaphor can fall apart here. However, the practical implication is this: do our lives give off the perfume of Heaven? If not, why?

 

I encourage you today to consider your scent. Do you smell more like the perfume you spritz on before leaving the house? Or is the perfume of Heaven your signature scent?

 

Reflection:

How can you be the aroma of Heaven today? To whom can you be that aroma? In what ways does your life disperse the scent of Christ? What areas do you need to surrender as a “captive in Christ’s procession,” in order to better disperse the scent of Christ?