Let Us Be A Christ-Like Fragrance

I have two newly-planted carnations in my flower gardens this year. The other day I couldn't resist picking the first few flowers. I put them in a small vase by my computer so I can smell their fragrance. I think carnations smell wonderful!

The Apostle Paul writes in the Bible that his life and the lives of the other apostles are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.

"Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.

But this fragrance is perceived different

by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.

To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom.

But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume.

And who is adequate for such a task as this?

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NLT)

In other words, Christians who actively serve God are a sweet, pleasing scent to their Father in Heaven, like the scent of my carnations! And to those whose hearts they've touched and helped bring into God's Kingdom, they are a life-giving perfume. On the other hand, to those who turn away from the God in them, they are a dreadful smell of judgement and death.

Even though, like Paul, we may not feel adequate for such a mission, we are all called as Christians to reach out to those around us with the love of Christ, and to share with those who are in need of the life-giving perfume the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let us not be dormant Christians who don't care about the unsaved in our community, for then we will produce no fragrance to our God in Heaven. Instead, let us be active Christians who have an earnest desire to reach the lost, desperate, and crying souls around us so we will be a sweet-smelling aroma that reaches to the Heavens.