Good morning Champ and welcome to another Friday fry- up
Your Smell Affects Others Cont’d
Let’s have one final look at these great verses to motivate ourselves concerning the fragrance or aroma of our lives. Yesterday we looked at the effect our lives have on the nose of God and this morning let us finish by looking at the scent we carry in the nostrils of people we share our daily worlds with.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
Two groups of people are mentioned in the above verses and two distinctive smells. If we let them follow their natural order I think we may be able to see that God intended both smells to exist and play their part.
- Those who are being saved
Corinthians says that we are to be the smell of death among this group. Death? One way of looking at it could be that our lives should smell of the death we have experienced in Christ. When people (Church folk) get to experience our aroma they should smell the scent of the death we have died in Christ on us. It is that divine death that separated us from everything we used to be and so liberating and enabling us to be the brand new creations we now are. They should smell the death of such things as selfishness, pride and other scents that were once common to us and also that there is a new creation smell to us now.
- Those who are perishing
Our aroma among the unsaved should be one of extreme life. When unsaved people get a whiff of us they should be overwhelmed by the scent of resurrection and new life that comes from every pour of who we are. Remember that through new birth (death, burial and resurrection) we have been made alive together with Him and so our lives should smell of life not like the musty corridors of religion. Let’s face it, the smell of life is so much better than the smell of death. Life is more likely to attract followers than that of death. What would you follow?
As we move forward to possess our day let us be conscious of the aroma our life is giving out to the world God has called us to change.
God bless you smelly!
Andy
A devotional by Pastor Andy Elmes to inspire you with a godly thought to start your day well. God’s word is indeed the breakfast of champions.
Great Big Life
Empowering People
Andy Elmes
Pastor & Leadership Coach
UK Office:
PO BOX 240
Southsea
PO2 7YE.
+ 44 (0) 2392 342592
