Are you good at making first impressions? It doesn’t take very long for someone to form an opinion about you in only the first few seconds of meeting you. They judge you with their eyes by how you appear, they judge you with their ears by what you say, and some may even judge you by their nose. I’m not talking about perfumes or body order - though that could apply. No, I’m talking about the spiritual nose, and whether you give off the aroma of Christ or not. Paul explains in second Corinthians 2, verses 15 and 16:
"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 the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?"
To God, believers should carry with them the aroma of Christ. He can smell death or life on every person depending on if they’ve accepted Jesus or not. But could that also be said of others around us in this world? Spiritually speaking, can they smell the fragrance of life or death on you? People are watching all of the time. Some watch with interest, and some watch with indifference, but it is my hope that they are able to sense something different about believers, that they may be able to sense something different about you and me, if we consider ourselves believers in Christ. If they are unbelievers, I pray that the aroma may bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. And if they are fellow brothers and sisters, I hope the smell will be a fragrance of life.
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“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” I pray that you are one that gives off the aroma of Christ in the sight of God, but I also pray that is true in the sight of man as well. We are Christ’s ambassadors here on this earth. We should act differently than the world in public and in private. We should speak differently with words of love that encourages and challenges, and hopefully we even smell differently by giving of the aroma of Christ.