A Sweet-Smelling Savor

On a cold, crisp day you can catch the scent of a seasoned wood fire from a neighbor’s chimney. You can lean out of a back bedroom window, draw a deep breath, and almost taste the scent of pine from the little woods on the other side of the fence.

Speaking of fragrances, I love the smell of fresh, damp laundry hung outside on the line. In the cool air, it smells warm and wet and even a little perfumy from the rinse cycle. As a teenager I would help my mom hang the laundry on the line out back. I used to love burying my nose in my father’s damp tee-shirts. They’d smell so fresh.

To this day, catching a whiff of “Tide” laundry detergent brings to mind that wonderful memory of helping Mom. Fragrances have a way of bringing long-ago memories vividly to mind as if I’d encountered them yesterday. I’m sure that’s why the perfume industry hauls in mega-millions of dollars. Those guys know how a hint of English Leather or Chanel No. 5 can make us recall warm memories and warm embraces. So crystal clear, so compelling.

For all of that, God’s Word spoke of the power of fragrance centuries before Revlon. To the Corinthians, Paul wrote:

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 (2 Corinthians 2:14-15).

Paul drew the word picture of the “triumphal procession” from the Roman practice of a military victory parade after a successful campaign. The apostle compares himself first to one of the prisoners led in long chains behind the conqueror’s chariot; then to a servant bearing incense; and lastly to the incense itself that wafted all along the parade route.

Paul knew the power behind a sweet fragrance. It was as though he was saying, “I want to live in a way that will perpetually remind God of the obedience, sacrifice, and devotion of the Lord Jesus. I want my words and deeds to bring to the mind of God fragrant memories of the earthly life of Jesus.”

Isn’t that a startling thought?

Just think of how the smell of a cherrywood fire will bring to your mind rich, deep-rooted memories that bring a smile to your face. In the same way, the Bible is telling you that your life of obedience can actually please God with an aroma that reminds Him of the obedience of Jesus.

So let’s not allow disobedience to make our lives a stench. You are called, you are privileged, to be a sweet-smelling savor.

Be fragrant. Be obedient. Be God’s memory of Jesus … a fresh aroma of God’s Son through the stale atmosphere of a dying world.

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