Fragrance of life.

What are some of your favorite smells? Last night I watched an episode of Futurama on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. This has become somewhat of a habit of mine lately. It comes on at 1030 and 1100. I've never really gotten into the show before but have recently and its pretty darn funny.
In last nights episode a scientist invents a smell-i-scope. You got it, you can smell things in the galaxies above rather than see them. At one point they smell something so putrid that they nearly lose the contents of their stomach. They eventually find out that it is actually a huge "asteroid" of garbage that was sent into space by the city of New York in 2015. (The show is set in 3000) And this garbage is coming straight for Earth. Suffice it to say, its a pretty stinky story.

That may be fantasy but we can imagine what trash smells like. We dont have to live with trash long because we can get rid of it but in a lot of places in the world people have to live in and around trash. In the Philippines near the city of Manilla there is the Payatas city dump that is so large that it literally towers over the shanty towns that surround it. According to stats I found, there about 30,000 people living on the dump and about 70,000 that live around the Payatas garbage dump; which is a 12-block-wide mountain of fermenting refuse.
Imagine the life. Imagine the smell. Imagine the trash. Its disgusting and tragic at the same time.

Okay, okay...I started off with what are your favorite smells, and I moved straight to trash...I didnt mean to do that so now that you are thinking about the worst smells think about the best. The smell of autumn in the air, the smell of roses, the smell of clean sheets, the smell of hot apple pie wafting through your nostrils.
All good smells.

So where am I going with this? Ever read 2 Corinthians 2:15-17. I like these verses. As Christians, as followers of Christ, as people who God has saved, as individuals whose sin is paid for by the life and blood of Jesus Christ..."we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."
The fact that we are a sweet scent to God means that he delights in us and in our lives. This is a fulfillment of the Old Testament burnt offerings, the smoke of which was created "an aroma pleasing to the Lord" Lev. 1:17 (Reformation Study Bible)

"To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life."
True believers emit a pleasant fragrance, not only in terms of their relationship to God but also in their interactions with those around them. On the other hand, the lives of believers firghten hardened unbelievers, who recognize that they themselves lack this sweet spiritual aroma - a warning of impending judgement. (Phil. 1:28)
Are we the fragrance of life to those around us? YES! No matter what you do, if you a are a believer, Jesus Christ's life and death covers you....we are the aroma of Christ!! What an amazing thought. Nothing in our hand we bring, simply to the cross we cling. Cling to Christ...seek him...and our fragrance of spiritual sweetness will not only waft up to God but to those around us...so that we become messengers of the gospel. Praise to God for his mercy and grace in our lives!