I think every person has a unique smell and have strong sense-memories tied to lots of people in my life. When I was in high school and college I worked at Neiman Marcus in Houston. It was a super fun job and part of working there meant I was able to purchase things at a discount (which is good because without it, my poor young self would not have been able to buy anything there!). One of the few things I purchased was a bottle of perfume. The perfume was French (with a name I cannot pronounce) and I loved that I didn’t know anyone else who wore it. For the past 30+ years, I’ve worn that same perfume consistently. While I have other perfumes it’s the one I wear almost daily and still love so. One day during the summer while I was in college, I was shopping at Target. I was standing in an aisle completely alone when I heard a voice say…”Shannon, where are you?”. Since I had come to the store alone and couldn’t see anyone, I thought this was super weird until a friend popped his head around the corner. I asked how he knew I was there and he said…”I knew you were here because I smelled your perfume. That’s your smell so I knew you were close by. I just followed my nose!”.
Did you know that everywhere we go, at ALL times, we are spreading the aroma of Jesus? It’s true. It doesn’t matter if we want to or not, much like my perfume reminds people who k ow me of me, as believers our aroma reminds others of Christ.
2 Corinthians 2: 15-16 says….
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 an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
Because He lives in us and through us- God’s aroma is detectable by others around us. And here’s what is super important to remember: We ARE a fragrance to God regardless of if we want to be or not and regardless of the response of others. As believers of Christ we proclaim the gospel. Period. In the midst of suffering or rejection- we are still the aroma of Christ. On our good days and our bad days- we are the aroma of Christ. On the days we give lots of grace and mercy and show heaps of kindness- we are the aroma of Christ. On the days we are short-tempered and rude and crankypants- we are the aroma of Christ. It should be apparent to others that we have something in our lives that is not natural, but supernatural. We should radiate God to all those around us. We don’t get to choose when we want to be this- we are, every single day. We either smell like a 13 year old boy with BO and wearing tons of AXE body spray OR we smell like the most glorious Anthropology candle- the choice is ours. My prayer today is that others are drawn to Christ by our sweet aroma, not forced away by our stinky stench. I pray that others see Him in us and want to know Him too!