Smelling Good

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

SMELLING GOOD

2 Cor 2:12-17

12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia. 14 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. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

NIV

Paul is going to meet up with Titus eventually, as we look ahead into chapter seven of this letter. But that is not the main topic of what he is getting to, or rather the truth we can learn. First, we should consider if God also leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and, second, if we spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. Then we need to consider if we are the aroma of Christ among those we are being saved and those who are perishing. It is interesting the Greek words translated as triumphal procession carry the idea of the fact we have victory in Christ, such as in our mission to spread the aroma of Christ everywhere. It is possible we could think that to mean we have victory in Jesus, as the song words might suggest, we can live in victory because we repented of our sins, and he plunged us to victory beneath his cleansing blood. But this is not what Paul is talking about. He is making the point that God leads us in a way to be victorious in being a sweet aroma everywhere of the knowledge of Him. We should be this sweet aroma of Christ among all our fellow believers, as well as among all those who do not believe. Granted the aroma for those who are perishing is the aroma of death. But that does not mean we smell like death to them, but that if we are the sweet aroma of Jesus, then they will understand death is not the place for them and they will find Jesus. However, the main point is that we should have this fragrance of Christ emitting from us. It is much like a very strong signature perfume a lady might have on so that when she walks into a room, everyone knows she is there, even before they see her. Do people know we are there? What fragrance do they smell? Is it our signature fragrance of Christ? We do know that we must follow his leading and that when we do, He will lead us in a triumphal procession in Christ. We know that as we follow Him, He will lead us to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. In essence, we need to smell good.