I was in Walmart this week and was suddenly enveloped in a cloud so potent I almost gasped for a breath of fresh air. He looked like he was 15 and apparently he had just taken a shower and finished off with some manly body wash. He was a walking advertisement for Old Spice or some other manly fragrance. I wondered how that was working out for him. I looked around for a female 15 year-old thinking he might be on a date treating his sweetie to a trip to Walmart. Pretty classy place for a date. But he seemed unattached. Maybe he was on the prowl.
Being that I had just read II Corinthians 2, I subsequently thought of the following, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved.”
What a great idea. Paul wants us to be a pleasing presence because Jesus is in our hearts. So, why is it then that I am often put off by the scent of some so-called Christians. I am uncomfortable with their holy vocabulary and better than I attitude. I should be careful here, because some people like Old Spice and others like Polo. Perhaps the aroma of Christ comes with different fragrances to appeal to different kinds of people. Just as one size does not fit all so one fragrance does not appeal to all. That’s why Jesus needs all of us. There is someone out there who needs you or me and no one else will do.
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 15, 2016
PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org