Barb Tousley is a charter member of Community Church and one of the featured blog writers for Peak Reflections. Barb has a heart for discipleship and posts messages that help us cultivate spiritual maturity and intimacy with God.
Have you ever noticed how a certain fragrance can trigger memories of a particular event or experience in your life? The sweet, warm fragrance of Easter lilies stirs my heart that way.
In the church of my childhood, the Maundy Thursday evening service was a somber remembrance of Jesus' last supper with His disciples…the foot washing, the serving of the bread and the wine, the heart-rending prayer in Gethsemane, and Jesus' arrest. As each Scripture was read, one candle after another was extinguished.
Finally, the "Christ candle" was carried out, and we exited the dark sanctuary in silence. The Good Friday community worship immersed us in the horror of the crucifixion. And then… Easter Sunday morning! All ages joined the triumphant procession, as the "Christ candle" was carried back into a sanctuary now flooded with light, and countless Easter lilies were placed around the altar by families of the church. The unforgettable fragrance of those lilies dimmed the agony of the previous days, and wakened us to "a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1:3).
We can savor the sweet fragrance of rejoicing in our resurrected Lord (in memory or in present reality), or we can be that sweet fragrance to a world desperate for hope. "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” (II Corinthians 2:14-15).
A young missionary, preparing to go to China, embarked on her first day in language school. She entered the classroom and took her seat, brimming with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Conversation ceased as the teacher entered. She uttered no word of greeting, but slowly and silently walked up and down the aisles, and then left as she had come. The students were stunned. But a few minutes later, she returned and addressed the class. "As I walked around this classroom a few moments ago, did you notice anything special about me?" Her students were hesitant to reply, until one courageous young lady spoke up: "I did notice that you were wearing a lovely fragrance."
"Exactly!" the teacher replied. "And so it will be when you set out to share the Gospel with people in another land. It is your life lived out before them that will bless them with the fragrance of Christ, long before you are able to speak one word in their language about faith in Jesus."
The fragrance of our Christian faith, lived out before a watching world (including those of our own household) will speak volumes about the transforming power of a life "hid with Christ in God."
From the pen of Mother Teresa: “Dear Jesus, Help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine...."
Thank you for your article which has spoken powerfully into my life. I am about to move to another place and believe God told be to be his fragrance. I was not sure what it fully meant so by googling found your article.
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