Do you have a favorite aroma or fragrance?
Maybe it’s chocolate chip cookies in the oven or spiced cider simmering on the stove. It may be a perfume or even the smell of burning wood in the fireplace. My favorite flower is the stargazer lily because of its fragrance. A fragrant aroma brings pleasure.
Paul talked about a fragrant aroma in 2 Corinthians 2:14, but he wasn’t referring to food, flowers, or perfume. He was talking about the fragrant aroma that should come from believers—you and me.
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
What makes us a sweet aroma of Christ?
A Thankful Heart
Paul began this verse with the words, “But thanks be to God.” Paul was distressed when he wrote these words, but he looked beyond his circumstances and thanked God.
When we give thanks, especially when things are difficult, we are a fragrant aroma to God because it shows we trust Him and are resting in His sovereignty.
Giving thanks is also a fragrant aroma to those around us. When we give thanks in all situations, we point others to where our eyes are focused—on Him.
A Surrendered Life
Paul said of Jesus in Ephesians 5:2, “Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
When we offer our lives to God in total surrender, it’s a fragrant aroma to God and to others. When we say, “Yes, Lord, I want to do your will, not mine,” it pleases God. It is also a fragrant aroma to others when they see our trust in God as we surrender our way and follow His path.
As I’ve watched other believers surrender themselves to Christ and His plan for them, I’ve been able to enjoy the fragrant aroma of their surrender.
An Outreach Mindset
We live in a world that needs Christ. We can either sit back, expecting someone else to share the gospel, or we can follow His command in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples. Are we willing to make Jesus Christ known to those around us? Sharing Christ with others is a fragrant aroma to God and to those who hear the gospel and accept it. But, as Paul reminds us, not all will like the aroma.
God wants us to be a fragrant aroma to the world, pointing others to Christ. Are we?
I’d love to hear what you think makes us a fragrant aroma of Christ to others.
So good. I think loving others releases a fragrant offering sweet to the Savior and to those around us.
That’s a good one, Cathy. Thank you for sharing!
This is one of my favorite topics! I love the fragrant aroma that spills from my essential oil diffuser. It reminds me of how our lives (living sacrifices) are a sweet, and pleasing aroma in the nostrils of the Most High God.
Melanie, that’s a great reminder of our sweet aroma to Christ! Thanks for sharing.
I so love too listen too GODS Awesome WORDS an prayi can be a blessig too other’s ….kathy
Kathy, you’re so right! listening to God’s Word is a fragrant aroma. Thanks for sharing!
I was thinking about how is abiding in Christ really hammered out in the nitty-gritty of life and how it looks different than I thought it would look like when I was younger. In the small things that make up most of life is where I find it. Giving thanks, yeilding to Christ, holding on to hope in Christ, pressing on, encouraging others,
and frankly getting used to suffering from things I have or sharing in the suffering of others.
As a caregiver of a chronicly ill child for many years, with no certainty of this coming to an end, much of my “big” dreams have gone by the way side. I have come to appreciate that an audience of one is something amazing when that one is God.
Vickie, you ARE a fragrant aroma to Christ and to others. Thank you for your example that keeps pointing me to Christ. I love your ending sentence, “I have come to appreciate that an audience of one is something amazing when that one is God.” Love you!