The Fragrance of Goodness
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triump in Christ, and through us diffuses the frangrance of His knowledge in every place. – 2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV.
The NIV puts 2 Corinthians 2:14 as: But 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.
It’s true just being around or communicating with a committed Christian brings a touch of God or the fragrance of God into your life. As children of God we become used to the fragrance of goodness and it is unpleasant for us to be around those with a different aroma.
The world is constantly spreading a different fragrance, a foul smelling fragrance of death. I believe one of the worst smells of foulness on the Internet are the newsgroups. I used to have a program to access them, but have now deleted the program entirely, because I believe that it was an entry point of evil.
We must be alert to the fragrances around us. Not only do we want to spread the aroma of life but we want to avoid being influenced by the fragrances of death. Sometimes we must do as Joseph did and flee the foul evil smell. We must guard our heart for it is the wellspring of life. We must maintain our own saltiness if we are to be the salt of the earth. We must keep the cover of evil off of our own light if we are to be the light of the world. But thanks be to God who, if we will follow, will always lead us in triumphal procession in Christ.
(Let us always seek to spread the fragrance of goodness with our lives.)