2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.” Today's episode talks about how God already won the war of good and evil and He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us live in that victory. It also talks about how we should leave the fragrance of Christ with all those we meet. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Fragrance of Christ
2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.”
I really liked the imagery of this verse. The first part says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.” Can’t you just picture Jesus walking in front of us leading us in a procession? I can picture us all lined up behind Jesus, we are wearing our very best outfits, with super comfy shoes on, and we are marching behind Jesus. Our heads are held high and our shoulders are back. We have such confidence when we are following behind him because we have won, the war is over, God is the victor and we get to bask in that glory.
What is crazy to me is that God did already win the war. I know most days it doesn’t seem like it because there is still a battle going on between good and evil. We seem to still be fighting the enemy for our soul. However, it is not really a war because in a war we don’t know who will win. And actually there aren’t really any winners in wars as there is so much devastation on both sides. However, in the battle of good and evil, God already won our souls when he gave His only Son to die on the cross for our sins. In that moment, God defeated evil for good. When Jesus died on that cross He took our sins with Him and that means he cleared the way for us to go to heaven.
When I say Jesus cleared the way I mean that when He died He took our sins with Him. He was sinless and yet carried our sins to the cross to free us from sin. However, that doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever we want here on earth and then get a free pass to heaven. God still expects us to follow his laws while we are here on earth. This may seem like an impossible task, especially given the world that we are living in. However, Jesus didn’t just take our sins with Him to the cross and then leave us alone here on earth. When Jesus went to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us here on Earth. He did not leave us alone.
The devil is still trying to get our souls, however, they belong to God. The devil can not get our souls unless we let him. God has defeated evil and the Holy Spirit is within us to help us follow God’s ways and give us the strength to withstand the temptings of the devil. The devil’s temptings can be strong, and as we have talked about before he is a very good liar. He can convince us of many things if we let him. However, they Holy Spirit is much stronger than the enemy. If we invite the Holy Spirit into our life, into any moment that the enemy is trying to tempt us, we will be victorious. We will be marching behind Jesus in that triumphal procession. We don’t have to fear the battle between good and evil because we know God has already won. All we need to do is to keep inviting the Holy Spirit to come into our every day life and help us fight the daily battle to do what is right.
The second part of the verse says, “Through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.” I love this idea of spreading the fragrance that comes from knowing him. What I pictured when I first heard this was being in a room after someone who was wearing a strong perfume or cologne had walked away. You know how you can still smell their fragrance for a bit after they walk away? That is how I hope people feel after they talk with me about Christ. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we just exuded this aroma of Christ so strongly that after we walked away people were still smelling it?
I have talked a lot over the last year and a half about how we are being called to be the face of Christ. When people see us, they should see a reflection of Christ looking back at them. This is what we should all aspire too. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us with this. We can ask the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds. Wouldn’t it be nice if after each interaction we have with other people, we leave them with a greater knowledge of Christ? This verse seems to be a slightly different way of looking at it. Maybe we don’t have to leave everyone with a greater knowledge of Christ, maybe we could just leave them with a greater sense of Christ.
Sometimes we think we need to preach to everyone we meet. We want everyone to know about Jesus and we feel it is our job to tell them. If this is you, it is awesome that you are that on fire to share Christ with everyone and this can be the right approach in some situations. However, not everyone is there yet. Not everyone is ready to hear all about Jesus. I do believe everyone is ready and looking for kindness, for love and acceptance. What if we left every person we met with a greater sense of love and acceptance? I think this is what the verse above is talking about. We would be leaving them with the fragrance that comes from knowing Him.
To know Jesus is to know love. True love, not human love. To know Jesus is to know an unconditional love that has no boundaries. Jesus accepted everyone. He did not turn anyone away. What if this was our philosophy? What if we entered every situation with the determination to love and accept everyone we meet? How different would our interactions be? How different would our lives be? How different would the world be if everyone accepted and loved everyone. I am not saying we need to accept all they are doing. Jesus sat and ate with tax collectors and sinners. He loved them and accepted them and yet he did not condone their behaviors. He filled them with love and then told them to go and sin no more.
There may be people you know who are you feel are making bad choices. You may know people who are acting in a way that is contrary to our beliefs at a Christian. You may feel like it is your job to correct them. I have found there is no-one better to change the hearts and minds of people than the Holy Spirit. He is equipped in ways we are not. He can bring our sins to us in a loving and non judgmental way. When God points out our sins, we never feel guilty or bad about them. Shame never enters in when the Holy Spirit is bringing our sins to our mind. We just get this sense that we want to change them. When we point out the sins of others, it almost always sounds judgmental and condemning.
I get that you feel it is your job to save your loved ones. The best way to do this is to pray for them, ask the Holy Spirit and all the saints and angels to intercede for you as well. Then, fill your loved ones with love and acceptance. Make them feel welcome in your home. Make them feel loved because I assure you the world is not loving them. Accepting them in your home does not mean you are condoning the thing you don’t agree with. Jesus accepted people as they were and yet did not condone their sins. Shower love on people, there is not enough of it in this world. Love is free, it has been given freely to you from God and He is asking you to give it freely. Do not make people earn your love, do not make people pay for your love with this condition or that. For instance, as a parent sometimes we give the impression we will love you if you get this grade, if you have this haircut, if you play this sport. Love your children, old or young freely with no conditions. If we do this, I believe we will be fulfilling this verse. If we leave people feeling more loved and accepted after we talk with them, then we will be leaving the fragrance of knowing Jesus with them because Jesus is love!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord we want to leave people with your fragrance. We want to leave an impression of you on each person we meet. Help us do this Lord. Please help us to know what that means for each one of us. Transform our hearts and minds so we can be more and more Christ like with each passing day. Help us to love others Lord. Not just love others but shower them with love. Help us to accept others too Lord. Help us to leave each person we interact with filled with a sense of you. We love you Lord, you are the almighty one and the most powerful one. We adore you, we bless you and we glorify you! We are so grateful for all you do for us and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus Holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!