What's Your Scent?
"But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ, and spreads through us in every place the scent of knowing Him. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2:14-15).
Have you ever had a hand-me-down and before you washed it you could smell it and know from which family it came? It is not that the family smells bad (well perhaps some may:-)) but they have a particular scent. We get a lot of wonderful cloths handed down from my sister since her children are all older. One day my son put on a shirt and said, "Hey, this smells like my cousins." Well, like our own earthy families we hold a scent that tells others to whom we belong.
When I first read verse 14 I thought, "oh, how poetic and beautiful." And then the reality hit me, "Do I actually give off the scent of knowing Him?" This amazing responsibility was not written with a question but as a fact. Those who truly know him are to God..."the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." There is no room for another fragrance.
There is no lukewarm Christian, for God said, "He who is not with me is against me..." (Matthew 12:20). So just as I have to ask myself, everyone must answer the question...if I am letting off any other fragrance than that of the family of Christ, am I really a part of that family?
