“Be To God The Aroma Of Christ…”(II Cor.2:14-17).
Aroma is defined as “a distinctive, typically pleasant smell.” Words similar in meaning are: smell, odour, fragrance, perfume, etc. Aroma which tantalizes one person can be nauseating to another person. Let me explain myself with these anecdotes:
- A social media friend recounts that he was five years old when in the absence of his parents, he killed a chicken, prepared it and ate it all alone. He said upon return his parents beat him black and blue. Since then he has become allergic to chicken.
2.Traditional doctors who treat epilepsy warn that an epileptic patient should neither eat chicken nor anything cooked in a pot in which chicken was prepared. As such, epileptics undergoing such treatment become allergic to chicken.
While the fragrance from a chicken stew may be appetizing to a chicken lover, it would be nauseating to the epileptic undergoing treatment. We may all be in the theatre, but what each person sees on stage depends on where s/he is sitting.
Paul says “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.”
God uses us everywhere to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. No matter how useful we become and no matter how eager people become to smell that sweet fragrance, let us not peddle the word of God for profit like many do. Rather, in Christ we should speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
My friend, the aroma of chicken stew may be appealing or disgusting, but the smell emanating from faeces can never be tantalising. Let the aroma of Christ that we spread not go out and smell like faeces.
Prayer: Holy Spirit guide us to spray the aroma of Christ that will be a fragrance of life to the majority. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.