Have you noticed how bold people are getting in their unabashed criticism and disdain for Christians in our nation? There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that our leaders, courts, and judges have not defended what our Founding Fathers had intended when establishing a Christian nation. Yet, there are other reasons for this judgment. Reasons that we have disastrously brought on ourselves.
I have been meditating on this passage from which the Apostle Paul gives interesting metaphors for how some view Christ-followers:
2 Corinthians 2:14-16: “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. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?”
Here are two extreme examples of those who either exude the smell of death or the fragrance of life: the first is the congregation of Westboro Baptist Church (consisting mainly of members of one family) which travels the country carrying hate signs and picketing military funerals. Some signs proclaim, “God Hates Fags,” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” These hatemongers who claim to be Christians emanate the smell of death mentioned in the above scripture and actually openly believe that by hating, they are fulfilling God’s plan.
The second example is Mother Teresa, whose entire life was spent loving and helping the poor on the streets of India in the name of Jesus. She exemplified the fragrance of Christ to those who were being saved and to those who were perishing.
Those who claim to be believers, yet promote hate in the name of God are enemies of the cross of Christ. They lack grace, and invoke the stench of death on the Church. The world often looks at these radicals and lumps all Christians into the same category—“religious bigots.” As I pondered this dilemma, I went back and read Jesus’ words to His followers in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Likewise, in John 15:16 Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit … This is my command: Love each other.”
The mark of a follower of Christ is that we love others. Jesus prayed to His Father (John 15) to give us the same love shared among the Trinity. The same love. How powerful is that? We could change the whole world if we truly loved everyone that way. I, for one, fail miserably in that arena. Love for the unlovely produces a fragrance that is pleasing and desirable to skeptics because it is the “fragrance of the knowledge of Him.”
“To the one, we are the smell of death.” Like rotten fish or rancid meat, we can stink to unbelievers. If we are loving, then what they are smelling is their end … death for their unbelief. The smell of death frightens “those who are perishing” because, if what we believe about Jesus is true, they are in deep trouble. This results in radical reactions of fear, antagonism, and disdain for our confident faith. Thousands of followers of Jesus Christ in other countries have been tortured and killed for simply owning a Bible.
In John 5:18, Jesus said to His followers, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you … If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. They will treat you this way because of my name … He who hates me hates my Father as well.”
“…to the other, the fragrance of life” - Those who are open to truth and to admitting their need for God, can smell the fragrance of life, which is the fragrance of Christ. Seekers are attracted to the love we express because Jesus loves them through us. That gives them hope. Caring about them and their needs promotes a desire in them to have what we have, not the rhetoric of lies by radical fringe churchgoers, but instead the giving of grace. We give grace because we understand we are all sinners. Everyone is broken. All are in need of a Savior. Loving others because we love Jesus emits the fragrance of Christ to the person who would be saved.
Finally, at the end of that passage is the question: “And who is equal to such a task?” It’s difficult to love those who hate and misunderstand us; however, it is not impossible. Remember what Peter said, in 1 Peter 4:14, “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” This is not saying we are blessed if we are insulted for being unloving, arrogant or judgmental. But we are blessed if we are allowing Jesus to reign in our hearts; if the “Spirit of glory and of God rests” on us, which will enable us to bring the lost into the beautiful garden of the fragrance of Christ.
“What’s that smell?” they ask. I would hope and pray the response would be, “Why, that’s the fragrance of the Lord Jesus in His followers!”
Read
Re-read the above passages. Do a word search at biblegateway.com or a Bible dictionary of the words aroma, fragrance, love others, light and salt.
Reflect
· Ask God to show you ways in which you have not been the fragrance of life to others.
· Memorize a verse that will help you focus on spiritually smelling better.
· What act of kindness in the name of Jesus can you do for an unbelieving neighbor or friend?
· Grow or buy roses. Display one every day this week as a reminder to remain fragrant for Christ.
Respond
Father God, I want to love others no matter how wrong I think they are. Forgive me for the times I’ve been the smell of death through my arrogance and judgmental attitude about others. Draw me so near to yourself that I can only express a pleasing fragrance to everyone I come in contact with. May they sense my love for them and want to know my Savior. Amen.
© Copyright 2012. Sandra Dowling Housley. All rights reserved.
