Aroma of Christ

aroma. n.  a distinctive pervasive and usually pleasant or savory smell. b. A distinctive, intangible quality; an aura.

Aside:
Personally, I enjoy the use of pervasive here. Pervasive means "spreading widely through an area or group of people". I would also like to note that both definitions use the word distinctive.

Have you ever considered what sin smells like? I know many of us consider the image of rags to glory when contemplating salvation, that we were naked and overcome with shame prior to encountering our glorious Savior, and that His redemption makes us white as snow before our Maker, the God of the universe. Think of your favorite aroma, baked cookies from the kitchen, the scent of rain, your favorite flowers. Now to only think of the worst smell this earth has to offer, for me sulfur comes to mind (smells similar to rotten eggs). Christ takes our nastiness, though it may be an intangible quality or simply an aura about us, and restores is to the best aroma. When we live out our lives pursuing the holiness of Christ, we become the aroma of our Savior to God. We essentially become a pleasing fragrance to God, no longer filled with the stench of this sin-filled world, but rather the glory of our King.

^"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. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ."
 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (emphasis added)

Consider that the passage says we are not only the aroma to God, but also to those who are coming to know Christ, and those who are perishing, or do not yet know Christ. Think of the unsaved people you interact with each and every day, what kind of aroma do you bring to their lives? Is it enticing, inviting? Or is it an aroma of bitterness, selfishness, maybe discontent? We are commissioned by God, in the sight of God, we should strive for sincerity in our walks.

So take a step back today, how do unbelievers perceive you? As freshly baked cookies or rotten eggs? Ask Christ to mold you into His aroma, that we may win some who are lost.

That you would be a fragrance pleasing to our Lord,

amber