R&R #4: Christians Stink

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." 2 Corinthians 2:14-16a

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Christians smell. There's just no getting around it. The image that Paul adopts in this passage is one of a triumphant Roman general. After a successful campaign a Roman general would return in triumph, riding a magnificent, golden chariot, and leading trains of soldiers and captured slaves behind him. Priests would burn incense and waft the smoke as they marched, causing the stench to rise over the whole procession.

The smell was a sign of victory for some and a cause for rejoicing! For others, it was the smell of defeat, of being utterly vanquished by the general and his army. This is the way that Christians are in the world. To those who are elect of God, we smell like life and victory. To the reprobate, we smell like death and they recoil in our presence. Here's the thing, though, both people are smelling the same thing. We should not produce one smoke around Christians and another around those outside the Church. Both people should smell the same scent coming from us. It's the way that they perceive the scent that should be different.

Here's another point: it doesn't do any good to try and cover up your stench. How often have we tried to mask our Christian musk with the perfumes of worldliness! We do not wish to smell so foul to those outside of Christ's Church, so we tone down our witness, we try and fashion ourselves after the ungodly, hoping that they won't notice us. Maybe we do this for understandable motives, imagining ourselves like a stealth unit in camouflage. They will never smell us coming and then...SURPRISE! GOSPEL!

It doesn't work. Trying to cover up your stench will be like spraying some perfume into a tomb to the reprobate. They can still smell you, trust me. All you will do is diminish your beautiful smell of life for the elect. Do not deprive the Church of your sweet fragrance.

Refusal: I refuse to mask the scent of Christ in my life for the sake of not offending the walking dead. I refuse to deprive the Church of God of the fragrance of my life. 

Resolution: I resolve that I will let the odor of my life in Christ waft everywhere I go. I will adorn the incense of Christ in my life with good works, praying that God will use my fragrance to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere. My life's odor will announce the victorious procession of Jesus Christ, proclaiming his triumph over death.